Thursday, October 09, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: Waterfront Philippines who won the privatization bidding of the billion-peso Mimosa Leisure Estate is now negotiating with a foreign financial firm for a business tie-up or a total sellout to operate and manage the estate.
This developed after it was established that it still has an outstanding loan from Philippine National Bank (PNB) amounting to P739.6 million and P375 million with Social Security System or a total of P1,114,600.00.
Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which has been operating and managing the 320-hectare Mimosa Leisure Estate since December 1999 conducted an open bidding on June 6 with two qualified bidders participating for the privatization of the estate.
The participating bidders were Waterfront Philippines Inc. and I& D Capital Joint Venture of Korea. The CDC Bids and Awards Committee declared Waterfront as winner on a mere technicality after I & D Venture failed to insert the bid security check inside the second envelope although the security check was presented during the bidding procedure.
A former CDC director casts doubt on the capability of Waterfront’s commitment to settle with CDC first some P872.5 million within the 90-day memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will mature into a lease agreement on October 10.
The MOU was entered into between CDC and Waterfront as the winning bidder.
Waterfront is required to remit P770 million to CDC, which has yet to be confirmed by the agency. The financial deliverables of Waterfront include the performance security equivalent of 5 percent or P50 million of the total investment commitment and P52.5 million for Going Concern Value, P160 million for Advance Guaranteed Lease and a security deposit of P160 million.
The CDC legal department explained that it couldn’t allow the winning bidder another 30- to 45-day extension to settle its obligation, saying that it is not in conformity with CDC Bids and Awards Committee Terms of Reference.
Some CDC officials said that they would be in an awkward position to grant the requested grace period to Waterfront because they already denied a request of the losing bidder for a grace period in submitting its bid security check. -Mark Louie P. Roxas
