Two more firms have joined eight others that have advanced to the next step toward being awarded an operation and management (O&M) contract by the government.
Ecorail Transport Services Inc. and Autre Porte Technique (APT) Global Inc. each procured bid documents worth P500,000 from the special awards and bids committee of the Department of Transportation and Communications, according to Transportation Undersecretary Glicerio Sicat in a text message to the BusinessMirror.
The agency has set on July 11 the deadline for the purchase of the bid documents, which include the terms and reference for the bid contracts for the Light Rail Transit Line 1 and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 that will cost P7.7 billion and P6.3 billion, respectively. “The deadline to buy is until one day before the submission of bids. Since the submission deadline is a Monday, July 11, the last chance to bid would be Friday, July 8,” said Sicat.
Ecorail and APT Global are now joined by Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investment Corp.; Ayala Corp.; Optimal Infrastructure, which is 99.9-percent owned by San Miguel Holdings Corp.; Jorgman Planning and Development Corp.; England’s Serco Group Plc.; Marubeni Corp.; Sumitomo Corp.; and Abratique & Associates Phil. Inc.
They are all vying for the contract to operate and manage the two railway systems in Metro Manila for four years, with an option to extend by one more year.
After the O&M period, the LRT Line 1 Cavite (South) extension project contractor is expected to assume overall responsibility for the integrated LRT Line 1 and MRT Line 3 systems.
There were a total of 45 firms that have formally signified interest to join the auction, which is the first project under the Aquino administration’s Public-Private Partnership Program. Transportation officials, however, expect that less than half of the 45 firms will actually participate in the auction after the committee announced that an eligible bidder must have completed at least one similar project—or currently engage in one—worth at least P7 billion in order to be considered as an eligible bidder.
