More firms show interest in CALAX

MANILA, Philippines - More companies have expressed interest in joining the rebidding for the P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna expressway as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is finalizing the terms of the rebidding for the public private partnership (PPP) project.

Ariel Angeles, officer-in-charge of PPP Service of DPWH, said Filipino-owned Datem Construction and a Singaporean company have expressed interest in the 47-kilometer toll road project that would link the provinces of Cavite and Laguna.

 Angeles said the agency’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) is looking at opening up the rebidding to other groups aside from the prequalified bidders.

“We have to open it to other players but the SBAC has yet to come up with a resolution,” he added.

Earlier, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang has confirmed that the diversified conglomerate would participate in the rebidding process while MP CALA Holdings Inc. of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has renewed its bid bond for the project.

Angeles said the agency would likely publish the Invitation to Bid for the project next month and the submission and opening of bids would be held over the next five months.

He pointed out that the agency’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) is finalizing the terms of the bidding including the possibility of imposing a floor price of P20.1 billion.

Malacañang earlier ordered the DPWH to rebid the project after SMC filed an appeal with the Office of the President after the opening of the financial bids last June 13.

SMC questioned the decision of the DPWH to disqualify Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. (OIDI) for allegedly submitting a non-compliant bid bond. Malacañang issued a “stay order” on the implementation of the DPWH resolution disqualifying the SMC unit, preventing the agency from issuing a Notice of Award to the highest bidders.

The tandem of conglomerate Ayala Corp. and listed Aboitiz Land Inc. has expressed disappointment over the decision of Malacañang to rebid the project.

Team Orion, a 50-50 joint venture between Ayala and Aboitiz Land, said the Office of the President should conduct the rebidding immediately and should make sure that the government could gain P20 billion from the rebidding.

 “We expect the rebidding to be conducted swiftly, above board and in line with established bidding procedures in order to ensure that the government obtains the P20 billion it had assumed to gain,” the joint venture said in a statement.

Ayala Corp. managing director John Eric Francia earlier said the company has yet to receive any formal notice from the Office of the President on the rebidding of Calax.

“We don’t want to overemphasize this but that is still the position of the company. We believe that the original bid was conducted in a fair and transparent manner. It just doesn’t make sense if we participate in the rebid,” Francia said.

 Alloy MTD has also opted out of the rebidding after it did not renew its P355 million bid bond.