Megawide, San Miguel want to join bid for prison facility project

MEGAWIDE Construction Corporation and San Miguel Holdings Corporation have expressed interest in participating in the bidding for the P50.18-billion public-private partnership (PPP) contract for the construction of a new prison facility in Nueva Ecija.

“As of now, we have two prospective bidders: the Megawide Construction Corporation and the San Miguel Holdings Corporation,” Senior State Counsel Rosario Elena Laborte-Cuevas told reporters Wednesday during the Pre-Qualification Conference.

Aside from the two, Cuevas said D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) has sent a letter of intent, also expressing interest in the bidding.

“DMCI submitted their letter of intent and manifested their intention to submit their documents,” Cuevas added.

The new prison facility will be constructed in Fort Ramon Magsaysay, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija. Fort Magsaysay is the biggest military reservation in the country and serves as training facility of the Philippine Army.

The main objective for the construction of the prison facility is to “provide adequate living spaces, facilities, and address the basic needs of inmates incarcerated in the existing penal facilities such as the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW),” the project information memorandum titled “Pre-Qualification Documents for Regional Prison Facilities through Public-Private Partnership Project.”

Prospective bidders have until May 6 to submit their application for pre-qualification.

According to that document, the target date of the Issuance of Notice of Award is Sept. 3. The target date of the Contract Signing for the winning bidder is Sept. 30, and of the Issuance of Notice to Proceed, March 2016.

Currently, the NBP is in Muntinlupa.

Records from the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) showed that the NBP has 170 percent congestion rate with a population of roughly 22,800 in a prison that only has 8,400 capacity. AC