San Miguel awarded OPS for Cavite-Batangas toll road

• San Miguel Holdings has been awarded original proponent status by the Cavite provincial government for its unsolicited proposal to build and operate the Cavite-Batangas Expressway Project

• The project involves construction of a 27.06-kilometer toll road passing through the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Tagaytay, Indang, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite and Nasugbu in Batangas

• The provincial government and SMHC completed negotiations on CBEX on September 1

• The PPP Selection Committee will now proceed with the competitive selection process

San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC) was awarded by the Cavite provincial government an original proponent status (OPS) for its unsolicited proposal to build and operate the Cavite-Batangas Expressway (CBEX) Project.

The provincial government accepted SMHC’s unsolicited proposal to develop, design, finance, build, operate and maintain the CBEX project, according to a statement issued by Renato A. Abutan, chairperson of the PPP Selection Committee.

SMHC is the holding company of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation.

The project involves construction of a 27.06-kilometer toll expressway that starts in Silang, passing through the towns of Amadeo, Tagaytay, Indang, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite, and ends in Nasugbu, Batangas.

The provincial government said it granted the OPS to SMHC on June 30, giving the company “the right to proceed with detailed negotiations and, if successful, to exercise the right to match the best comparative proposals that may be submitted during the competitive challenge process.”

The statement added that detailed negotiations had taken place and were completed successfully on September 1.

In line with the province’s public-private partnership (PPP) code, the PPP Selection Committee will now proceed with the competitive selection process, a mandatory process designed to solicit comparative proposals from other potential proponents as counterbids to SMHC’s unsolicited proposal.

“The project aims to provide a faster, direct and more efficient route through the municipalities of Cavite and be a catalyst of development for the Eastern portions of the CALABARZON [Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon] region,” SMC said in a regulatory disclosure on September 14.

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