Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and six other companies have expressed interest to challenge the proposal of the tollway unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. to build a toll road linking the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway.
Public-Private Partnership Center executive director Andre Palacios identified the seven companies that purchased bid documents for the Swiss Challenge of NLEx-SLEx Connector Road as San Miguel Holdings Corp., Obrascon Huarte Lain SA, Hunan Road and Bridge Corp. and four law firms.
The board of the National Economic and Development Authority in December approved the Swiss Challenge on the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road Project on the condition that the original proponent, Manila North Tollways Corp., would lower the project internal rate of return to 10.87 percent from 12.09 percent by reducing the opening tariff from P100 to P87.
The Public Works Department said the bid submission for the competitive proposals was set on July 25, while the evaluation of the proposal was on July 26.
The right to match the offer of the original proponent was scheduled on Aug. 17 to Sept. 29. The issuance of the notice of award is on Oct. 15 and the signing of toll concession agreement is on Nov. 10.
The implementation of the project would be from November 2016 to February 2022.
The project involves the construction of an eight-kilometer, four-lane toll road linking the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway, passing through Metro Manila and using the existing Philippine National Railway alignment as its route.
The Public Works Department will implement the project, which has a total estimated cost of P23.2 billion and a concession period of 35 years.
Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., which is separately constructing the P26.7-billion Skyway Stage 3 Project, will build the five-kilometer common alignment from Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila to Buendia in Makati City of the NLEx-SLEx project.
The Neda board earlier approved the NLEx-SLEx Connector Project under the unsolicited mode, subject to a Swiss Challenge.
MNTC, which operates NLEx, earlier sealed a joint venture with Philippine National Construction Corp. in a bid to facilitate construction of the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road.
Other MNTC shareholders are Egis Projects S.A. of France, Leighton Asia Ltd. of Australia and PNCC, which holds the franchise to run the expressway.
The government decided to subject the project to a Swiss challenge after the Justice Department issued a legal opinion, saying the Neda board’s decision to implement the project as a joint venture was “without factual basis or jurisdiction.”
14 June 2016
By Darwin G. Amojelar
