Business World Top Story – 18 December 2012
TWO MORE public private partnership (PPP) deals will be offered to investors before the year ends, with the government to solicit bids for a new Cebu airport terminal and the second phase of a nationwide school building project.
Notices will be issued today for the P8.8-billion Public School Infrastructure Project-Phase 2 (PSIP-2) and a P17.51-billion contract for a Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) development, PPP Executive Director Cosette V. Canilao yesterday said.
The PSIP-2 involves the construction of 11,000 classrooms in the Visayas and Mindanao, while the MCIA deal will also include an operation and maintenance contract for the entire airport.
Both follow Monday’s rollout of a P1.72-billion automatic fare collection system (AFCS) project for Metro Manila’s three railways, an investor conference for which saw heavy attendance yesterday. Representatives from more than 50 firms — including Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc., and San Miguel Corp. — were present.
Ms. Canilao said the government wanted to thresh out issues regarding the project, noting: “There were really good inputs — the interface between the train operators and the AFCS operator, other details like the capture of the money and how it will be distributed to line operators, and concern on the float and the capacity to develop business outside the usual revenues.”
She said the government was still reviewing the P43-billion Cavite-Laguna expressway project, aimed at easing traffic in the south, and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s P25.56-billion unsolicited proposal to connect the North Luzon and the South Luzon expressways.
“We’re still studying if we can lower the costs of these projects,” Ms. Canilao said.
The government has so far awarded two PPP projects since the centerpiece infrastructure program was launched in late 2010. These are the P1.96-billion Daang Hari-Southern Luzon Expressway link (Daang Hari-SLEx), awarded to Ayala Corp. last December, and the P16.42-billion PSIP-1 — involving the construction of 9,301 classrooms in Luzon — that was bagged in September by the BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. and Citicore Investments Holdings, Inc.-Megawide Construction Corp. consortiums.
In the pre-bidding stages are the railway fare collection system, P1.16-billion Angat turbine rehabilitation, P5.6-billion Orthopedic Center rehabilitation, P60-billion Light Rail Transit-1 Cavite extension and the P15.86-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway 2 projects.
Construction has not started for the Daang Hari-SLEx and PSIP-1 projects but Ms. Canilao said she was optimistic that groundbreaking would commence next year.
