San Miguel disqualified from CALAX PPP project
The Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) disqualified on Wednesday, June 11, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) from bidding for the P35.42-billion (around US$800 million) Cavite Laguna Expressway (CALAX).
DPWH's Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) disqualified Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc. (San Miguel Corp.) after it failed to comply with the bidding rules, particularly on the validity of its bid security.
San Miguel Corp. (SMC) sid in a statement:
After this decision the final valid bidders for the project are the following:The decision to throw out the bid of our subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure is prejudicial, unfair, and disregards both legal and all common-sense considerations that should be given to projects of this scale and importance
- Alloy MTD Philippines, owned by Malaysia's second-largest toll-road operator,
- Team Orion: formed by AC Infrastructure Holdings Inc., Aboitiz Land Inc., Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings Philippines, Bouygues Travaux, Egis Road Operations and Korea Expressway Corp.; and
- Consortium of Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPTDC) and Leighton Contractors (Philippines) Inc.
For the CALAX project, the private partner shall finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the 47 kilometers close-system toll expressway starting from the existing Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) and ending at South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Mamplasan Interchange in Binan, Laguna. This covers the 28.9 km Cavite Section from Kawit to Silang and the 18.1 km Laguna Section from Silang to SLEX.
CALAX is the DPWH's third and biggest infrastructure project under the government's public-private partnership (PPP) program with a project cost of 35.42 billion pesos (US$806 million).
The first project, the Daang Hari-SLEX, was awarded to the Ayala group, while the second, the NAIA Expressway, went to Optimal Infrastructure.
