NEDA OKs P9.35-B MPIC-Ayala bid for largest PPP project

MANILA, Philippines - The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board chaired by President Aquino has approved the P9.35-billion offer made by infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and conglomerate Ayala Corp. to undertake the country’s largest public private partnership (PPP) project.

PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao revealed the NEDA board yesterday also approved the premium payment offered by the lone bidder Light Rail Manila Consortium for the P65-billion Light Rail Transit line 1 (LRT1) Cavite extension project.

The LRT Line 1 is part of the Aquino administration’s PPP program and the government is studying the extension of the train line up to Dasmariñas, Cavite, instead of the initial plan to make Bacoor City as the final station.

Aquino yesterday presided over the NEDA board meeting that discussed various projects.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the results of the meeting and the approved projects would be formally announced today.

Coloma said the meeting was divided into two parts. The first included the discussion by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) headed by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and NEDA director-general Arsenio Balisacan on the development, operations and maintenance projects being done by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) in the country’s airports.

The ICC discussed the Cavite extension project, which is expected to serve around four million commuters of Parañaque City and the province of Cavite. The rebidding of the P65-billion LRT 1 extension project was set last April 28.

The Cavite extension will increase the span of LRT 1 from 20.7 kilometers to 32.4 km – with 10 stations, 10.5 kilometers of viaduct, support beams, and three intermodal facilities included.

Niog, Bacoor, Cavite, would be the new south endpoint instead of Baclaran. The Cavite Extension System would serve around four million residents of Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite province.

Approximately 10.5 kilometers of the Cavite Extension System would be elevated and 1.2 kilometers would be at grade level.

The government has set aside P30 billion to acquire up to 39 new Light Rail trains for this project.

The construction of the tracks, the stations and all attendant facilities, as well as operation and maintenance worth about P30 billion, was bidded out while the other half of the P60-billion project, covering the purchase of coaches, would come from the government through official development assistance (ODA).

In the second part of the meeting, Coloma said the NEDA board was expected to review four projects, including the infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Metro Manila and Laguna de Bay; the irrigation projects of the National Irrigation Administration; the roadmap for transport infrastructure development in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon region and Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal- Quezon (Calabarzon) region; and the government integrated financial management information system, which would enable the government to plan, execute and monitor the budget more efficiently. – With Aurea Calica