Top PHL firms form consortium for P123-B Laguna Lakeshore Expressway bid

(Updated 4:56 p.m.) Four big names in Philippine business have formed a consortium to bid for the P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project, the biggest public-private partnership (PPP) initiative of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

 

Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. formed Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp., a joint venture incorporated for the purpose of pre-qualifying for bidding and evaluating the feasibility of the PPP project, the companies said in separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

 

Each of the four companies have an effective equal share of 25 percent in the consortium.

Four consortia filed initial documents on Friday to qualify to bid for the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project, among them Trident Infrastructure and Development Corp. – a partnership of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Megaworld Corp., Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc., according to a Reuters report.

 

The consortium filed the pre-qualification documents before the DPWH for the Laguna Lakeshore project, the companies said the dislosures.

 

Prospective bidders were given until 2 Friday to submit the prequalification documents, PPP Center director Christine Antonio told GMA News Online.

San Miguel and two other consortia – Rainbow Holdings Inc. and the MTD-PAVI-Hanshin Consortium that includes Malaysia's MTD Capital Berhad – also submitted pre-qualification documents.
 

The deadline for submission of qualification documents for the Laguna Lakeshore project was moved from October 16, 2014, to January 14, 2015 and then to February 27 "to give more time for bidders as they requested even longer periods for extension," DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson earlier said.

 

24 companies bought bid documents for the project.

 

The expressway-dike project – which involves the construction of a 47-kilometer, flood-control dike cradling a six-lane toll road – seeks to ease the traffic flow and flooding in the Western coastal communities from Bicutan in Taguig to Calamba in Laguna along Laguna Lake, according to the PPP Center.

 

It covers a 700-hectare reclamation component abutting the expressway-dike and separated from the shoreline by a 100- to 150-meter channel in Taguig and Muntinlupa.

 

Team Trident combines the infrastructure expertise of the Aboitiz and Ayala groups as well as the reclamation and land development experience of Aboitiz, Ayala Land, Megaworld and SM Prime, according to the disclosure.

 

"The consortium also benefits from the combined financial muscle and the national and international network of experts that the four companies have, which will be able to benefit millions of Filipinos and thousands of businesses along the western shore of Laguna de Bay," the companies said. – VS, GMA News