Twenty-nine bidders consisting of giants in the local and foreign infrastructure development scene have shown keen interest in the Aquino government’s biggest public-private partnership project—the P170.7-billion North-South Railway Project South Line.
The pre-qualification conference for the project held August 20 was attended by 14 local and 15 international companies. Local bidders were Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc.; AC Infrastructure Holdings, Inc.; BF Corporation; CFP Strategic Transaction Advisors; Daelim Philippines, Inc.; Linaheim Corporate Services, Inc.; Metro Builders Corporation; MRail, Inc.; Metro Pacific Investments Corp.; PHILAB Industries, Inc.; Philippine Skylanders, Inc.; Pacific Concrete Corp.; Raji, Inc.; and San Miguel Holdings, Corp.
Their international counterparts, meanwhile, were Acciona Australia; Aecom Technology Corp.; UK-based ArcelorMittal S.A.; Bouygues Travaux Publics Philippines, Inc.; Bureau Veritas S.A.; Daewoo Group; General Electric Co.; Korean Rainbow Holdings, Inc.; Leighton Contractors Proprietary Ltd. of Australia; Macquarie Group Ltd.; Mitsui Group Corp.; Marubeni Corp.; Obrascón Huarte Laín, S.A.; RATPDev Transdev Asia; and Japan’s Isolux Corsan S.A.
The project will revive the oldest rail system in Southeast Asia, which will begin with the Manila-Legazpi section then proceed to additional branch lines, totalling 653 kilometers in all.
Under the project’s terms, the winning bidder will design, construct, finance, operate, and maintain the 56-kilometer commuter rail service for daily riders on the Tutuban, Manila to Calamba, Laguna route; and the 478-kilometer long-haul rail service for travelers on the Tutuban to Legazpi, Albay route. The group will do the same for the 58-kilometer rail length from Calamba to Batangas City and the 117-kilometer rail from Legazpi to Matnog, Sorsogon.
Once the entire railway is operational in 2020, it will run 10 daily trips with seven train sets passing through 66 stations. It is expected to attract 316,000 passengers per day on its opening year, and entice around 44,000 public and private vehicle users to shift their commute mode to the modernized railway.
The bidding will be conducted in two stages, with the pre-qualification date targeted within the fourth quarter of 2015. Opening of bids is expected to be held in January 2016, and awarding is set for March 2016. The winning bidder will operate, maintain, and upgrade the South Line for 34 years, which include the construction period of four years.
Image courtesy of graur codrin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
