SCTEX price challenge consistent with BOA

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on Monday said the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) price challenge was consistent with the expressway's business and operating agreement (BOA).

 

"[It] is a consequence of the President’s approval which is a condition precedent to the effectivity of the BOA itself," BCDA president and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova said in a statement on Monday. 

 

"The BCDA is confident of the legality of its position," he added.

 

Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) executed a BOA for the management, operations and maintenance of SCTEX in July 2011 and was submitted to the Office of the President (OP)  for approval in October 2011.

 

The OP decided to subject MNTC's "most improved offer" to competitive proposals from other proponents.

 

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Dec. 11, MNTC said: "if the price challenge proceeds without an agreement on the provisions of the terms of reference and without a common understanding that the BOA will be the basis of the contract for the price challenge, the validity of the exercise may be questioned and MNTC will be compelled to exercise its legal options."

 

"MNTC maintains that since the price challenge was not contemplated in the BOA, it cannot be undertaken without the consent or involvement of MNTC," the company said.

 

All interested parties including MNTC were invited by the BCDA to a conference on Jan. 6 to discuss concerns on the SCTEX price challenge.

 

"We agree that the bidding process should be transparent and fair. As such, no one party should have undue advantage over the others by having a hand in the crafting of the terms of reference," Casanova said.

 

BCDA is bidding out the rights, interest and obligations in managing, operating and maintaining SCTEX under a 28-year business and operating agreement or until 2043.

 

Interested parties have until Jan. 30, 2015 to submit eligibility documents and technical and financial proposals.

 

In the SCTEX price challenge, MNTC will have the right to match the highest bid for the project.

 

SCTEX is a four-lane, 93.77-kilometer expressway that traverses Bataan, Pampanga, and Tarlac and is directly linked to the North Luzon Expressway. —Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/NB, GMA News