Posted on January 15, 2015 11:09:00 PM
THE SUBMISSION of bids for the
P4-billion deal to build an integrated transport hub near the Food Terminal,
Inc. (FTI) in Taguig City was postponed by one-and-a-half months until June 1,
a bid bulletin showed, giving prospective bidders more time to beef up their
offer.
AN ARTIST’s rendition of the
P4-billion transport hub near the formerly agro-industrial Food Terminal, Inc.
that will make it easier for South Luzon-based commuters to get a ride to
Manila. -- PPP.GOV.PH
The government initially looked to put
the Integrated Transport System (ITS)-South Terminal Project on the auction
block on April 13, but Ayala Land, Inc.; Datem, Inc.; Filinvest Land, Inc.; and
Megawide Construction Corp. subsidiary MWM Terminals wanted a new date.
All four companies made it to the
short list of those that are qualified to bid for the contract, that will
include the design, construction and operation for 35 years of a terminal
servicing Manila-bound commuters coming from Laguna and Batangas.
The postponement is “due to request of
potential bidders to extend the submission date from April 13, 2015 to a date,
which is 11 months after the issuance of the bid documents,” Transportation
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla said in Special Bid
Bulletin No. 03-2015.
The government set a two-stage bidding
process for the contract, which meant the qualification documents are opened
separately from the financial and technical proposals.
The project is one of the dozens under
the public-private partnership (PPP) program that the government hopes to award
as the term of President Benigno S. C. Aquino III enters its final stretch.
A project brief of the PPP Center
showed the ITS-South terminal will give commuters from Laguna and Batangas
access to other transport systems, such as the future North-South Commuter
Railway project.
It was not the first time the
government moved the bidding date for the P4-billion PPP deal. The
Transportation department first set late March as the bidding date, but later
postponed it to April 13 after extending the deadline for submission of qualification
documents in November.
Diversified conglomerate San Miguel
Corp. and property developer Robinsons Land earlier bought bid documents but
did not pursue prequalification.
The Department of Transportation and
Communications is building other integrated transport hubs in northern and
south-western Metro Manila.
It
successfully auctioned off the ITS-Southwest project, which will build a
terminal for commuters in the Cavite area. The Megawide Construction Corp.
emerged as the highest bidder, outdoing Filinvest’s offer. The government has
yet to formally announce the winning bidder for the ITS-Southwest contract.
Transportation
Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya told reporters last month that the department
is studying a site near the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for a third
transport hub, the ITS-North terminal. Apart from that site, other prospective
locations are the former Manila Seedling Bank, the Philippine National Railways
site in Caloocan City and the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. --
Chrisee Jalyssa V. Dela Paz
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