BY BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA REPORTER

STATE-OWNED Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has extended the deadline for submission of bids to manage, operate and maintain the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

Victor Zablan, BCDA vice president and chief finance officer, said the last day of submission was moved to January 4, 2010, a month later than the original deadline of December 4.

The postponement was aimed at giving “the six participating companies more time to prepare their bids.”

BCDA said the Issuance of Notice of Award would be on January 22, 2010, while the contract signing and Issuance of Notice to Proceed would be on February 22, 2010.

The agency identified the six interested bidders as Amicus Holdings Inc., Citra Group, IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd., Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp., San Miguel Corp. and STAR Tollways Corp.

BCDA said all six have been informed of the revised timetable through a bid bulletin issued on November 27.

Under the SCTEx privatization scheme, the winning bidder would enter into a lease or concession agreement with BCDA to manage, operate and maintain the tollway on an “as is, where is” basis for 33 and a half years, or until 2043.

BCDA had said the private sector partner would shoulder the operational funding requirements for management, operations and maintenance, including insurance, periodic maintenance works and emergency works.

BCDA would receive a semi-annual lease/concession fee from the winning bidder in one of two ways—a 20 percent of audited gross revenues or the peso equivalent of the yen-dominated Japan Bank for International Cooperation/Japan International Cooperation Agency debt servicing plus all financing charges payable to the agency 10 days prior to due dates and secured by a rolling five-year letter of credit.

SCTEx is a 93.77-kilometer toll road that traverses Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales.

Besides the SCTEx deal, BCDA also plans to bid out the 34-hectare Joint US Military Advisory Group (Jusmag) area in South Bonifacio.

“The disposition of the Jusmag property involves the joint venture development and privatization of the 340,000-square-meter area with a minimum value/price of P19,000 per square meter,” Aileen Zosa, BCDA vice president for business development, said.

“Interested private sector entities may participate in the selection for BCDA’s joint venture partner by submitting their Letters of Interest to BCDA and purchasing the terms of reference [TOR] for a nonrefundable fee of P50,000,” she said.

Eligible buyers would then be required to buy a second set of tender documents for a nonrefundable fee of P50,000, which details the technical and financial proposal requirements, the BCDA official said.

BCDA said the eligibility documents would be available to interested private sector participants from December 7 to 14 at the BCDA Corporate Center in Taguig City.

BCDA said the tender documents would be later issued simultaneously to all eligible private sector participants, alongside the issuance of the Notice of Eligibility/Ineligibility.

A pre-eligibility conference among interested participants would be held on December 14 at BCDA Corporate Center.