'Exception in govt bidding process sends wrong signal to investors'

MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Equity Ventures on Wednesday said exceptions in the bidding process for the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project will affect the government's integrity and send the wrong signal to investors. Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief finance officer Steve Paradies said the Calax project should be awarded soon, and get off the ground as soon as possible, as the country is "badly" in need of infrastructure. "I have not officially heard that Malacanang accepted the protest. I think it is unfortunate because it will cause delays in badly needed infrastructure. The bid was conducted very fairly. There 4 four bidders, three of them were compliant, one unfortunately was non-compliant. There are rules in the bidding process and rules have to be followed. To make exceptions, it will affect the integrity of the bidding process and that sends the wrong signals to the investor community," Paradies told ANC. His statement comes after San Miguel said it is seeking Malacanang's intervention on the bidding for the Calax project. San Miguel's Optimal Infrastructure, which was disqualified from the bidding, filed a notice of appeal before the Office of the President. The Department of Public Works and Highways earlier disqualified Optimal Infrastructure since it failed to comply with the bid security requirement. With the disqualification of San Miguel, Team Orion, a partnership between Ayala and Aboitiz Land, emerged as the highest bidder. Despite the proposed Palace intervention, Aboitiz is still interested to bid for more public private partnership projects such as the Bulacan bulk water project and airport projects, and to invest in building coal power plants. - ANC