The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it intends to privatize the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the EDSA Busway in Metro Manila through a solicited bidding process.
“We’re aiming for a solicited bidding process,” DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters.
Bautista said, however, that a private company had submitted an unsolicited proposal for the project, without disclosing the identity of the proponent.
He said the agency was conducting a parallel study and engaged consultants for the NCR EDSA Busway.
The agency earlier signed consultancy services contracts with the Public-Private Partnership Center, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and SyCip Gorres Velayo & Company (SGV) for the O&M and feasibility studies for the NCR EDSA Busway.
“Solicited bidding offers a faster timeline compared to unsolicited proposals. The Swiss Challenge process alone for unsolicited proposals can take 90 days up to a year,” Bautista said.
The NCR EDSA Busway Project involves the financing, design and construction of enhanced bus stations, operations control centers and parking depots and the purchase, operations and maintenance of a high-capacity busway plying through Circumferential Road 4 (EDSA) and other major and feeder roads.
The EDSA Busway, meanwhile, is expected to enhance the existing EDSA Carousel to address the high demand for transportation services along the median of EDSA and feeder roads by increasing capacity and service reliability.
The project may also involve the introduction of electric buses, reducing the carbon emissions along the heavily trafficked corridors of Metro Manila.