PHL fails to bid out P122.8-B PPP project ahead of May elections

The government on Monday said it failed to bid out the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway-Dike Project, after the deadline passed and none of the pre-qualified bidders came to submit their financial proposals.

"None of the three prequalified submitted bids," Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio L. Singson told GMA News Online.

At this point, Singson said, "We will study our options."

The prequalified bidders are San Miguel Holdings Corp. and the consortiums Team Trident and Alloy Pavi Hanshin LLEDP.

The project was commercially risky because of the May 9 poll, as well as due to legal questions over the government's right to turn a portion of a lake into land which would be then sold by the private sector, said Isaac David, president at MTD Philippines.

Alloy Pavi Hanshin LLEDP is composed of Alloy MTD Capital BHD, Prime Asset Ventures Inc., and South Korean company Hanshin Engineering Constructions.

Team Trident is composed of Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., and SM Prime Holdings Inc.

37-yr. BTO scheme

According to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, the project will provide a high-standard highway with a dike that will "ease traffic flow and mitigate flooding" in the western coastal communities along the Laguna Lake.

Under a 37-year build-transfer-and-operate (BTO) scheme, the private partner will finance, design, construct, operate, and maintain a 47-kilometer flood control dike with a six-lane expressway toll road on top.

It also includes the construction of interchanges, bridges, floodgates, and pumps from Taguig City to Los Baños in Laguna.

The winning bidder will also undertake the reclamation of some 700 hectares in Taguig and Muntinlupa

The P122.8-billion scheme is the second-largest infrastructure project under President Benigno Aquino III's PPP program.

Aquino's six-year term will end in June.  – with a report from Reuters/VDS, GMA News