BCDA agrees to rebid S-C-T tollway project

In a sudden change of heart, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) withdrew yesterday its objection to a rebidding of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Project (SCTEP).

In a hastily called press conference, BCDA president and chief executive officer Rufo Colayco said that the SCTEP could be rebidded within three months.

"However, the BCDA would first seek concurrence from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to rebid the civil works contract for the SCTEP," Colayco said.

The BCDA would also resubmit to the National Economic Development Authority Investment Coordinating Council (NEDA-ICC) the redesigned SCTEP.

"The cost of the redesigned SCTEP would be higher than the P18.7- billion cost approved by the NEDA-ICC," Colayco said. Colayco, however, refused to reveal exactly how much the redesigned SCTEP would cost.

He insisted that "the lowest bid received in the tender conducted in the last quarter of 2003 was substantially higher than the budget cost approved by the NEDA-ICC three years earlier."

Colayco reiterated that the rise in the cost of the SCTEP "arose due to a number of factors such as the weakening of the peso against the dollar as well as the design changes especially in the lahar areas."

Colayco also sought to reassure that "although we initially disagreed with NEDA Secretary Romulo Neri’s position to rebid, we now understand Neri’s desire to ensure that government has exhausted all considerable means to obtain the best possible cost and funding package for the SCTEP."

Just a day earlier, Colayco had warned that a rebidding of the SCTEP would result in a delay of one to two years, much longer than the four to six months Neri estimated.