DOTC to hold talks with bidders of P4B transpo hub

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is set to hold another round of talks with the four prequalified bidders of the proposed P4-billion transportation hub in Taguig City.

DOTC undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla issued General Bid Bulletin 14 – 2015 containing the schedule of the second round of one-on-one meetings with the prequalified bidders for Integrated Transport System (ITS) – South Terminal this week.

The DOTC had already prequalified last Dec. 10 Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Land Inc. of taipan Andrew Gotianun, Datem Inc., and MWM Terminals led by Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp. for the PPP project.

Lotilla said the agency would conduct one-on-one meetings with Ayala Land and Datem on April 8, and with Filinvest Land and MWM Terminals on April 10.

The DOTC first conducted one-on-one meeting with the four prequalified bidders from March 16 to 20 to address the queries and comments of the four shortlisted bidders.

Earlier, DOTC assistant secretary for legal affairs Jaime Fortunato Caringal issued General Bid Bulletin 12 – 2015 moving the submission date for bid proposals for the PPP project to May 18 instead of June 1.

The DOTC deferred the submission of bids to June 1 instead of April 13, to give the pre-qualified companies more time to prepare their proposals.

The PPP project is being undertaken by the DOTC under the Build-Transfer-Operate scheme of the Build-Operate-Transfer law. The concession period is 35 years.

After the submission of bid proposals, the DOTC would undertake a two-step evaluation wherein the technical proposals would first be evaluated, afterwhich the financial proposals of bidders who passed the technical evaluation would be opened and evaluated.

The DOTC said the bid amount could be in the form of an annual grantor payment wherein the government would pay the winning concessionaire to undertake the project, or in the form of annual concession payment to be paid by the concessionaire to the DOTC.

The 5.57-hectare South terminal would connect passengers from the Laguna and Batangas side to other urban transport systems such as the proposed P288 billion North-South Commuter Rail of the Philippine National Railways, city buses, taxis, and other public utility vehicles that serve inner Metro Manila.

The project would include a passenger terminal building, arrival and departure bays, public information systems, ticketing and baggage holding facilities, as well as park-ride facilities.

The DOTC earlier awarded the P3.15 billion ITS -Southwest Terminal project along the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) to Megawide-led MWM Terminals. It submitted an annual grantor payment of P100 million for the project topping the P650 million annual grantor payment submitted by Filinvest Land.

However, the signing of the concession agreement scheduled last Feb. 25 hit a snag due to issues concerning the 4.59-hectare project site.