The competitive challenge for the multibillion-peso unsolicited connector-road deal was launched on Friday, after Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) completed the negotiations for the implementation of the infrastructure project.
The DPWH and MPIC executed a joint certification, which confirms that “the parties have reached agreement on the terms and conditions of the implementation of the unsolicited proposal for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the project, as reflected in the results of negotiations submitted” to the National Economic and Development Authority Board, and the agreed draft toll-concession agreement submitted to the Department of Finance and the Office of the Solicitor General.
In an invitation to compete, the public works department invited interested parties to challenge the P22.9-billion proposal of Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. to build and operate an expressway that will connect the southern and northern corridors of Metro Manila.
According to the invitation, the deadline for the submission of competitive bids is on July 5.
The deal, which aims to link the two thoroughfares to the northern and southern corridors of Manila, has been in limbo for quite some time now, as government officials were at odds as to how to implement this key infrastructure project. It was originally submitted as an unsolicited proposal back in 2010, carrying a P22.95-billion project cost.
This required the execution of a Swiss Challenge, which essentially gives other parties the chance to submit a better offer than the proposal of the original proponent.
The original proponent, meanwhile, has the right to match the offer. In this case, Metro Pacific, the proponent of the 8-kilometer road network that will run from C-3 Road in Caloocan to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila, offered to do the project under a P14-billion multiyear investment plan.
“We are hoping to start the construction by the first quarter next year. The aggressive target of completion is in 2018,” Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. President Rodrigo E. Franco said in an interview.
The expressway is expected to facilitate the seamless exchange of goods and services between the two ends of the country’s capital. This would aid truck operators and freight services firms to pick up shipped goods from the ports in Manila and deliver them to the markets.