Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is set to submit within the next two weeks an unsolicited bid for a $3-billion elevated expressway along EDSA patterned after an Indonesian project.
“Maybe from Macapagal to Balintawak. It will reach around $3 billion or a little more, give or take. That’s just money. We will do that because we want to solve the traffic in EDSA,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said.
He said the plan was to submit the proposal to the Transportation Department once all the documents were finalized in one to two weeks.
“We will submit but there are still financial studies lacking. Once that is completed, I think the idea is beautiful and I think Secretary [Arthur] Tugade likes it,” Ang said.
“Give us one to two weeks because there is the financial [side to it],” he said.
Ang said his company was in talks with the contractors of a similar project in Indonesia.
Ang previously announced plans to build a 10-lane elevated expressway on top of EDSA that would stretch from Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City to Samson Road in Caloocan City or Balintawak, Quezon City.
San Miguel currently operates the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway, the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, South Luzon Expressway, the Skyway System and the NAIA Expressway.
It is constructing the Skyway Stage 3, an 18.68-km, six-lane elevated expressway that will extend the existing Skyway from Buendia in Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City and link the South Luzon Expressway to NLEX.
The project aims to decongest major thoroughfares, including EDSA while creating new transport routes.
The company is also constructing Skyway Stage 4 which will start from the south of Metro Manila Skyway to Batasan Complex in Quezon City. It is expected to be completed by 2022.
San Miguel’s SMC Infrastructure is also building the 22-km Metro Rail Transit Line 7 from North Ave. in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan.
Meanwhile, Ang called on power distributor Manila Electric Co. to allow the use of circulating-fluidized bed technology in the terms of reference for the rebidding of its greenfield 1,200-megawatt power supply requirement for 2024.
“Allow us to join the bidding. SMC must be able to join so the public will be able to see the real prices. If San Miguel joins, prices become very competitive which benefits the public,” he said.
Meralco held the CSP or bidding for its 20-year 1,200-MW requirement on Sept. 10 but declared it a failure after only Atimonan One Energy Inc. of Meralco PowerGen Corp. submitted a bid.
“If you want a fair-and-square bidding, SMC should be able to join. If SMC will not be allowed to join, the bidding will not be competitive,” Ang said.
The Energy Department has yet to approve the new terms of reference for the re-bidding but the previous TOR stated that only technologies that fall under the high efficiency-low emission category are allowed to participate.
Aside from expressways, SMC Infrastructure has interests in water, airport and port businesses. San Miguel as a conglomerate also has interests in power, food, oil, among many others.
