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Ayala-Aboitiz joint venture submits highest bid for CALAX project


Team Orion, the joint venture of Ayala Corp. and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. bested the bids of all qualified bidders for the P35.4 billion Cavite Laguna Expressway (CALAX), placing a concession payment of P11.659 billion for the public-private partnership (PPP) project.
 
Metro Pacific Investments Corp.'s MPCALA Holdings Inc. submitted a bid of P11.33 billion Malaysia's Alloy MTD Philippines submitted P922 million for CALAX.
 
The Department of Public Works and Highways' Special Bids and Awards Committee will now evaluate the financial bids of the three qualified bidders before coming up with a Notice of Award next week, Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Rafael Yabut said Friday after the bids were opened. 
 
The winning bidder is expected to pay 20 percent of the financial bid when it signs a 35-year concession contract with the government, with the 80 percent balance payable over the next 10 years.
 
The fourth qualified bidder, Optimal Infrastructure Development Corp., a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp., requested Yabut to open its financial bid, a request which the DPWH official declined.
 
Optimal Infrastructure's P20-B bid

Optimal Infrastructure was disqualified on grounds that its bid security fell short of the 180 days required by the government.
 
As it turned out, Optimal Infrastructure's bid envelop specified a financial bid of P20.105 billion.
 
The company, represented by San Miguel head of Treasury Services Raoul Eduardo Romulo, declined to accept its bid documents which were being returned by the DPWH committee.
The conglomerate is looking at its legal options on the matter, Romulo told reporters after the financial bids were opened. 
 
“The people has a right now know what our bid was," said Romulo. "We have disclosed it to the public. 
 
"Personally, I feel bad for the Filipino people because it is in essence what a competitive bid was, and ours was a very aggressive and competitive bid as you have seen,” he added.
 
A San Miguel representative tried to open the sealed financial bid of Optimal Infrastructure reporters, but was prevented by DPWH officials who asked the San Miguel people leave the premises.
 
 “The Republic and the DPWH would have been the alternate beneficiary here," Romulo told reporters. 
 
"Unfortunately because of a mere typographical error, which they have allowed in the other bids, we were not given that leeway. It’s a sad day for us, but we hope that the remedies will see us through,” Romulo noted.

Integrity of bidding process 
 
In a separate interview with reporters, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the integrity of the bidding process has to be protected, citing the fact that Optimal Infrastructure was disqualified by the DPWH committee on Wednesday.
 
“The BAC decided that the security was imperfect, so the committee disqualified the company. In this case, the highest complying bid is Team Orion,” she said.
 
“We need to protect the integrity of the process and the program. We need to look at the bigger picture rather than this particular project,” Canilao added.
 
CALA is a four-lane, 47-kilometer toll way linking the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the Manila Cavite Tollroad Expressway. – VS, GMA News
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