Tuesday, April 28, 2009 [ manilatimes.net ]
By Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Reporter
State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said it would be disposing the remaining 8.38-hectare lot in North Bonifacio using a competitive challenge procedure.
According to Aileen Zosa, BCDA vice president for business development, this track of land would be disposed using the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) guidelines for Competitive Challenge Type Procedure for Public-Private Joint Ventures issued last year. This type of bidding is more popularly known as the “Swiss” challenge.
Under this competitive challenge scheme, BCDA would be inviting proposals from other firms to match a proposal submitted by a developer.
Zosa said BCDA has already received a proposal from Megaworld Corp. last year for the development of this property.
She said BCDA would be publishing the notice of invitation to other interested proponents and would also issue the terms of reference of the competitive challenge procedures on April 29 until May 8.
On Wednesday, the state-run firm would receive P700 million as proposal security from Megaworld and this upfront cash would be refunded if Megaworld loses the challenge, Zosa said.
After this, BCDA would determine the eligibility of the other interested developers and the agency would later receive and evaluate the financial and technical proposals of eligible proponents.
The BCDA official said Megaworld would then have to match what the agency would deem as the best offer from challengers to seal the deal. If Megaworld would not be able to match it, the project would be granted to the challenger, she said.
The government-owned firm aims to sign the contract with the winning bidder by August.
According to Zosa, the minimum bid would be P33,283.88 per square meter, or at least P2.789 billion, which is the lot’s present value.
Based on Megaworld’s proposal, the company plans to put up a mixed-use development of more than 500,000 square meters of gross floor area or a commitment of P15.6 billion. This project would be mainly made up of residential units but it would also include some office and retail spaces. .
Zosa said challengers could propose a different land use from Megaworld’s but BCDA would impose a limit on retail space not exceeding 35,000 square meters for these lots.
“We are highly optimistic that the proposed joint venture will materialize because it is market-driven, having gone through detailed evaluation and to be further subjected to a Swiss challenge,” said Narciso Abaya, BCDA president and chief executive.
Meanwhile, Abaya said BCDA last year generated P5.007 billion in gross revenues. Of the total, P2.032 billion came from the sale of the Expanded Big Delta Lots; P1.494 billion were from proceeds of other past dispositions and collections from the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx); and P1.481 billion were contributed by revenues and dividends from joint ventures with Fort Bonifacio Development Corp.
____________________________________________________________________________________
