No challengers to P15-B Maynilad, K-Water proposal
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) expects to award soon the P14.8-billion contract to operate the water and wastewater facilities in New Clark City to the original proponents, Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-Water).
This, after the unsolicited project received no competing bids during the Swiss challenge period, according to BCDA President and CEO Joshua Bingcang.
“That’s why I asked the PPP (public-private partnership) Center to speed up [the process],” Bingcang told reporters on Tuesday.
He said so on the sidelines of the general membership meeting of the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines Inc.
In addition, Bingcang said there was no need to exhaust the 90-day competitive challenge period, which began in late September, as the PPP Center had no competing bids to evaluate.
Once awarded, the contract would pave the way for the creation of a joint venture in which Maynilad and the state-run BCDA would each hold a 30-percent stake in the project. K-Water would take the remaining 40 percent, the maximum foreign ownership allowed for utility firms.
As soon as possible
Bingcang said the BCDA was bent on completing the deal as soon as possible to ensure sufficient water supply in the 9,450-hectare New Clark City, which is expected to host soon the United States-backed Pax Silica hub.
“I want [to award this contract] the soonest, of course, because I have made a commitment to the locators that they [will have] millions of liters of water per day next year,” he added.
Under initial estimates, the project is expected to raise New Clark City’s water capacity to about 150 million liters per day (MLD) from the current 20 to 30 MLD.
Maynilad and K-Water submitted the unsolicited proposal in January for the construction, operation and maintenance of New Clark City’s water supply and wastewater infrastructure under a 25-year concession, subject to extension.
In August, the BCDA granted the consortium original proponent status.
