Investing Stocks in Philippines: Southern Tagalog Arterial Road

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Stock News 2013: MVP, SMC units in dead heat over Naia project

The Skyway System. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The concessionaire for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) stage 2 expressway will be known this week once the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) opens the financial bids of the two firms vying for the deal.

Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) and San Miguel Corp. subsidiary Optimal Infrastructure Development Corp. were the only two bidders that submitted technical and financial bids for the P13.61-billion project last week.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao said both have passed the government’s post-qualification checks of their respective technical proposals.

Whether one technical proposal is better than the other will not be taken into account, Canilao said.

“In accordance with the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) law, it’s just pass or fail. Once a bidder passes, the opening of its financial bid will be allowed,” Canilao said over the weekend.

The DPWH’s technical working group (TWG) has gone through the technical proposals of both firms, she said. Both proposals contain details of where the road will pass through, where the off-ramps will be located, and other features.

The TWG has not found any deficiency in either of the two technical bids, Canilao said.

MNTC currently manages the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx). Meanwhile, the San Miguel group, through various units, operate and manage the Metro Manila Skyway, the South Luzon Expressway and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star toll).

Both groups are also building similar “connector roads” that would link the NLEx with Skyway, easing traffic in different parts of Metro Manila.

Conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Indian-owned M/S IL and FS Transportation Network were prequalified to bid for the project but both later on withdrew their respective proposals.

The Naia Expressway is the second phase of an existing project that will link Metro Manila Skyway, Manila’s airport complex and the Entertainment City—the country’s answer to Asian gaming centers like those in Macau and Singapore.

http://business.inquirer.net/116797/mvp-smc-units-in-dead-heat-over-naia-project

Monday, January 2, 2012

Stock News 2012: SMC seen to hike stake in Citra unit to 51%

The Skyway System. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
San Miguel Corp. is likely to exercise its option to raise its stake in an Indonesian-backed company that controls Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. , the concession holder and operator of the 15-kilometer elevated Skyway tollroad project.

San Miguel recently forged a deal to acquire a 46-percent stake in Atlantic Aurum Inc., a unit of the Citra Group of Indonesia which owns a controlling interest in the Skyway project that runs from Makati to Alabang.

The food to infrastructure conglomerate has an option to increase its stake in Atlantic Aurum to 51 percent at a later date.

“We can exercise our option anytime documentation is ready. But we’re not in a rush to do that. Citra doesn’t need the money,” SMC president Ramon S. Ang said.

San Miguel and the Citra Group are currently studying a plan to acquire a majority stake in the 42-kilometer Southern Tagalog Arterial Road in Batangas, operated by the STAR Tollway Group led by Hong Kong-based Cypress Tree Ltd.

The move is part of a strategy to forge a powerhouse consortium that can take on big-ticket infrastructure projects under the flagship public-private partnership (PPP) program of the Aquino Administration.

Citra and San Miguel received a proposal from the Star Tollways Group to expand the tollroad in Batangas province south of the capital by widening the existing two lanes to four lanes.

Targeted to begin in the middle of 2012, the STAR tollroad expansion project is expected to be completed in 24 months at a cost of P2.5 billion.

Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. owns about two percent of CMMTC and has long been wanting to raise its stake to at least a third.

San Miguel has been eyeing toll roads as a strategic component in its push to become a major infrastructure player in the country.

SMC owns a minority interest in the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway and North Luzon East Expressway, which starts in Quezon City and will eventually stretch to Tuguegarao in Cagayan province.

To ensure continued growth, CMMTC has proposed to build the third and fourth phases of the Skyway project.

Skyway Stage 3, which will cost around P24 billion, will connect the North and South Expressways while stage 4, called Metro Manila Expressway, costs about P28 billion,

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=764009&publicationSubCategoryId=66

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Stock News 2011: DPWH to fast-track bidding of projects

Image via Wikipedia
“Bidding should be competitive, no collusion, no favors, no rigging, no negotiated contracts,” said Singson.

DPWH is seeking the support of the civil society organizations, NGOs, and other government officials to monitor and ensure that DPWH projects are bid out competitively which is in line with Pres. Aquino’s “matuwid na daan” policy in reducing or minimizing corruption in the government.

Based on approved government appropriations act, approximately 1,493 projects worth P56.48 billion under the DPWH regular infrastructure program are set for implementation in 16 regions nationwide this year.

In full transparent public biddings, DWPH can achieve more than 20% savings from the budgetary allocations.

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/307698/dpwh-fasttrack-bidding-projects