MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is pushing through with a pre-bid conference for the New Manila International Airport Project in Bulacan even with no potential challengers to original proponent San Miguel Holdings Corp. in sight.
The STAR learned that no one has come forward to challenge SMC’s proposal.
A pre-bid conference has been set on June 20 and under the DOTr’s published invitation last April, only those who paid for the P10 million tender documents would be invited to attend the said event.
A source from the agency said the pre-bid conference would push through on Thursday even without any other bidders.
“We can just put on record that there are no bidders,” the source said.
However, interested companies or groups will still be able to submit their bids on or before July 31, the date when the opening of bids has been scheduled.
San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang earlier said he was not expecting any other party to make a bid to challenge his group’s proposal given the size of the investment required and the lack of government subsidy or take-off agreement.
Under the Swiss challenge rules, in the event that a comparative proponent submits a bid proposal better than those submitted by the original proponent, which is San Miguel, the original proponent shall have the right to match the best offer or such proposal.
San Miguel Holdings Corp. was given the original proponent status by the DOTr for its unsolicited proposal for the project.
Last April, NEDA had approved the P754 billion airport proposal.
The project aims to develop a new international gateway airport with air passenger terminal facilities with an ultimate design capacity of 100 million annual passengers, as well as airside facilities with an ultimate configuration of four parallel runways.
It also includes aviation-related equipment and support facilities, as well as an eight-kilometer airport toll road linking the project with the North Luzon Exrpressway.
Local and international companies are welcome to submit comparative proposals under a Swiss challenge bidding process to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the Bulacan airport project under a 50-year concession period.
A single-stage qualification and bidding will be undertaken for the project in accordance with the revised implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine Build-Operate-Transfer Law.