‘Calax rebid has no legal basis’

MANILA, Philippines - The tandem of Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Land Inc. said yesterday that there is no legal basis for an order to rebid of the P35.4 billion Cavite-Laguna expressway, adding this could derail the government’s momentum for major infrastructure projects under the public private partnership (PPP) program.

Team Orion, a 50-50 joint venture between Ayala and Aboitiz Land, made the statement after President Aquino told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) that the government is inclined to rebid the PPP project due to the appeal filed by San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

“We are very concerned with the Office of the President’s current inclination to pursue a rebid of the Calax Project because of the severe negative impact this decision would have on investor confidence in the PPP Program and on the integrity of the entire bidding process,” Team Orion said in a statement.

It pointed out that Malacañang has no legal basis to order a rebid as the process was conducted with transparency based on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law.

It added that the tandem would not participate in the rebidding that would be conducted by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“We will not participate if government decides to rebid the project because there is no legal basis for this course of action given the fact that the original DPWH-led process was conducted above board, transparently and within the framework of the BOT law,” Team Orion said.

President Aquino told members of Focap during their annual forum that Malacañang was inclined to order a rebidding for the project.

“I’m inclined to think that a re-bid would be the proper course of action on this particular issue,” Aquino said.

Team Orion said the government should award the proposed expressway to the highest complying bidder.

“We urge government to respect the well established BOT process, uphold its own rules, and award the Calax Project to the highest compliant bidder, so we can begin building much needed infrastructure,” the company said.

Team Orion submitted the highest bid of P11.659 billion followed by MP CALA Holdings Inc. of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) with P11.33 billion, and Malaysian-owned Alloy MTD Philippines with P922 million.

On the other hand, SMC’s Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. was disqualified through a June 11 resolution issued by the Bids and Awards Committee of the DPWH as its bid security was short of the 180-day validity period requirement.

The DPWH did not open the bid of SMC as it was disqualified from the bidding process. The diversified conglomerate opened its financial bid of P20.105 billion for the PPP project.

SMC filed a 37-page Notice of Appeal last June 27 and Malacanang issued a “Stay Order” last June 30 stopping the DPWH from implementing a June 11 resolution disqualifying Optimal Infrastructure from the bidding of the public.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said the conglerate intends to join the rebidding of the PPP project if it is ordered by Malacanang.

“SMC will join all government bidding,” Ang replied in a text messages when asked for his reaction on the pronouncement made by President Aquino.

In a separate statement, SMC’s Optimal Infrastructure said it is pushing for the awarding of the project as it submitted the highest bid of P20.1 billion or higher than Team Orion’s P11.6 billion.

“Our pending appeal is for Malacañang to declare our bid for the CALAX project as compliant and accept our P20.1 billion bid to get this vital infrastructure going. We support the position of Team Orion, who submitted a lower bid of P11. 6 billion that the project should be awarded to the highest bidder,” the company said.

“This huge undertaking will have a big impact on the country for many years to come and we believe government should have the best options available to it in order to make sure they get the best deal,” it added.