Bidding On P171-B Railway Project Begins

Five groups, both foreign and local, have made purchases for bid documents on the planned P171-billion rejuvination of the oldest railway in Southeast Asia. It will initially run from Manila to Legazpi, with several other branches to be opened later on. The five groups looking to bid on the project are Ayala Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp., San Miguel Holdings Corp., IL&FS Transport Networks LTD., and Fluor Daniels Pacific Inc. IL&FS Transport Networks is atop-notch infrastructure development and finance company in India, while Fluor Daniels Pacific is an engineering, procurement, construction and project management company from the United States.

Bid submission for the project was moved from February 1 to March 31, but was initially scheduled for October 15, 2015.

Winner of the bid will be given a construction period of 4 years, and will then operate and maintain the rail system for the next 30 years.

Extensioins of the project include stations in Calamba, Laguna, Batangas City, and Sorsogon.