30 firms show interest in largest Philippine PPP
This article is part of a daily series of MegaProjects articles. If you want to know more about PPP projects with a considerable size visit our MegaProjects section. You can receive them by email on a daily basis.
A total of 30 firms were at the pre-qualification conference on August 20 regarding the project to develop the North-South Railway Project (NSRP) (South Line) in the Philippines.
The news come after last month the Philippine's Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), along with its attached agency, the Philippine National Railways (PNR), launched a two stage bidding process for the project.
The 30 firms that are interested in the project are the following: Aboitiz Equity Ventures, San Miguel Holdings Corporation; Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Ayala Corporation's AC Infrastructure Holdings, Skylanders, MRail, PHILAB Industries, Raji, Linaheim Corporate Services, Metro Builders Corporation; CFP Strategic Transaction Advisors; Daelim Philippines, BF Corporation, Pacific Concrete Corporation, Mitsui Group Corporation, Obrascón Huarte Laín, S.A. (OHL), Korean Rainbow Holdings, RATPDev Transdev Asia, Macquarie Group, Marubeni Corporation, Acciona, Aecom, ArcelorMittal S.A., Bouygues Travaux Publics Philippines, Bureau Veritas, General Electric, Isolux Corsan, Leighton Contractors, and Daewoo.
Cosette Canilao, PPP Center Executive Director, stated::
"The reason there are lots of interested firms is because they usually want projects similar to the size of this deal. There are lots of service providers that can group together."
The preferred bidder will be responsible for the design, construct, install, commission, finance a 56 km Commuter Rail from Tutuban, Manila to Calamba, Laguna; and a 478 km Long-Haul Rail from Tutuban, Manila to Legazpi, Albay in the Bicol Region. The last one could be extended to: Calamba, Laguna to Batangas City, Batangas (58km); and Legazpi, Albay to Matnog, Sorsogon (117km).
The project will also improve long-haul and commuter stations, repair bridges, and modernize signaling and fare collection systems. In addition to designing and building the railway, the winners of the PPP concession will operate and maintain (O&M) the South Line for a period of 30 years.
The total project investment is estimated at P170.7 billion (US$3.65 billion).
On 19 February we reported that the government of Philippines approved the project along with two other PPPs, the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road and the Cavite Laguna Expressway (CALAx). Later in May the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) signed an agreement to provide joint advice to DOTC on the PPP structure and bidding process for the project.
We have recently reported about several PPP projects in the Philippines:
