The Public-Private Partnership Center said Tuesday the bidding for the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project, the largest toll road under the PPP scheme so far, will push through on March 14.
“We met with Secretary [Rogelio] Singson and his team last week to iron out the last commercial details. All systems go, according to DPWH for the Laguna Lakeshore project,” PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said.
The LLED project involves the construction of a 47-kilometer flood control dike and an expressway on top of it from Taguig City to Los Baños, Laguna and the reclamation of over 700 hectares of land for commercial development in Taguig and Muntinlupa.
It aims to mitigate flooding in the western coastal communities along Laguna Lake. The proposed alignment runs 500 meters from the shoreline of Laguna Lake.
Once completed, the project is expected to cut travel time from Bicutan to Los Baños from 90 minutes to 35 minutes, with an improvement in travel speed from 30 kilometers per hour to 80 kph.
Canilao said the bid submission for the project was rescheduled on March 14, from Jan. 7, 2016.
This was the third time the agency extended the bid submission deadline. The original schedule was July 6, 2015, which was deferred to Nov. 6, 2015 and then to Jan. 7, 2016.
Under the original schedule, pre-qualified bidders had until July 6, 2015 to submit their technical and financial proposals.
The Public Works Department originally planned to award the project on Aug. 21 and sign the concession agreement on Sept. 20, 2015.
Three prospective bidders were shortlisted for the project, including San Miguel Holdings Corp., Alloy Pavi Harshen LLEDP Consortium of Malaysia and Team Trident.
Team Trident is composed of Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp., Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc.
The Alloy-Pavi Hanshin LLEDP Consortium consists of Malaysia’s Alloy MTD Capital Berhad, Prime Asset Ventures Inc. and Hanshin Engineering Construction.
The LLED concession will last 37 years, including seven years for design and construction and 30 years for operation and maintenance. It will be financed mainly by private capital with no government subsidy, except for right-of-way costs.
Canilao, who tendered her resignation effective March 8, recommended that PPP consultant Andre ‘Raj’ Palacios take her place in the agency.
The government has so far awarded 12 projects under the PPP scheme worth P217.42 billion since 2010. Of the total, only three have been completed so far, including the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, Automated Fare Collection System and PPP for School Infrastructure phase one.
Canilao earlier said the PPP Center was targeting to roll out at least two or three projects before the end of the Aquino administration in June 2016.
