The administration of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte will pursue the auction of Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project, despite the failure of the outgoing government to attract bidders for the project.
Mark Villar, the incoming secretary of the Public Works Department, said Laguna Lakeshore was among the infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership scheme the Duterte administration would undertake.
“I think they were not able to finish it [bidding of Laguna Lakeshore]. There are some minor issues [but] I think it’s doable,” Villar said.
The Public Works Department earlier said it was reviewing the assumptions and the project’s risk profile, as well as the possibility of fully or partially undertaking the flood control component.
The Public Works Department declared the bidding process on March 28 as a failure, after qualified bidders did not submit any offer, citing the project’s risk profile and complexity, especially the flood control component and its connectivity to C5.
The three pre-qualified bidders—San Miguel Holdings Corp., Alloy Pavi Harshen LLEDP Consortium and Team Trident—did not submit any bid for the P122.8-billion LLED project.
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 three prospective bidders said the failed bidding was due to the lack of commercial viability of the project, which involves the construction of a flood control dike, a 47-kilometer, six-lane expressway on top of it and the reclamation of over 700 hectares of land for commercial development.
LLED project is supposed to be the largest public-private partnership venture under the Aquino administration.
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.
The Duterte administration said it would increase infrastructure spending to resolve the traffic congestion in Metro Manila and other parts of the country. It plans to hike the budget deficit ceiling to 3 percent of the gross domestic product from 0.9 percent in 2015.