Cavite mulls extension for purchase of bidding documents

MANILA, Philippines — The provincial government of Cavite is planning to give prospective bidders of the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) project more time to purchase bid documents.

Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla told The STAR that local government officials will hold a meeting today to formalize a decision on the potential extension.

“We will discuss further on Monday,” he said when asked about the length of the possible extension.

Under the Cavite government’s published invitation to bid in February, prospective bidders were given one month, from March 1 to March 30, to purchase the bid documents, which will contain instructions, draft joint venture and development agreement, as well as project feasibility study, including schedules and updates.

Deadline for the submission of joint venture proposals was set on May 4.

As of the March 30 deadline, Cavite government’s public-private partnership selection committee legal officer Jesse Grepo said two companies have bought the bid documents for the massive airport project which it targets to award by June.

Grepo, however, said he has no clearance yet to disclose the names of the companies since there might be an extension in light of the surge in COVID-19 cases and the enhanced community quarantine implemented in Metro Manila and four nearby provinces, including Cavite, last March 29.

The STAR earlier reported that the provincial government of Cavite has fine-tuned a legal qualification requirement to address national security concerns in its search for a new partner for the SPIA project.

The Cavite government is now requiring that its joint venture partner should be Philippine majority-owned and controlled, whether it be a single entity or a consortium.

If a consortium, the Philippine corporation should at least own and control 51 percent of the equity or voting interest.

The requirement was not applied to the airport project’s previous bidding, wherein the consortium of Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. and China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC) won. CCCC had a 60 percent stake in the consortium, while MacroAsia held the minority 40 percent.

The airport deal awarded to the MacroAsia-CCCC consortium was terminated last January due to the various deficiencies of the submission of requirements to conclude the joint venture agreement, prompting the provincial government of Cavite to start anew with its search for a partner.