The Manila North Tollways Corp. said Monday it expects the Public Works Department to approve by June the revised terms for the Swiss Challenge of an expressway linking the north and south of Manila.
“The negotiation just started. Hopefully, the terms will be approved before June and Swiss Challenge can commence by July,” MNTC president and chief executive Rodrigo Franco said.
Franco said the revised terms of the project would include the new project cost, right-of-way requirement and toll rate.
Swiss Challenge is a form of procurement, usually required in an unsolicited project, where other parties are given an opportunity to challenge the bid of the proponent.
Franco said the project cost of the NLEx-SLEx connector increased to P14 billion from P11 billion due to the revised project design.
The NLEx-SLEx link includes a five-kilometer common alignment from Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila to Buendia in Makati City that will be financed by Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp., which is separately constructing the P26.7-billion Skyway Stage 3 Project.
The board of the National Economic and Development Authority earlier approved the NLEx-SLEx connector under the unsolicited mode subject to a Swiss Challenge.
The government decided to subject the project to a Swiss Challenge, after the Justice Department issued a legal opinion, saying the Neda board decision to implement the project as a joint venture was “without factual basis or jurisdiction.”
The joint-venture route aims to do away with the Swiss Challenge, which had been required of the project when it was still being pursued as an unsolicited venture.
MNTC earlier sealed a joint venture with state-run Philippine National Construction Corp. in a bid to facilitate construction of the NLEx-SLEx link.
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. controls MNTC, which operates NLEx.
Other MNTC shareholders are Egis Projects S.A. of France, Leighton Asia Ltd. of Australia and PNCC, which holds the franchise to run the expressway.