San Miguel Corp. is set to bag the P27-billion Cavite-Batangas Expressway Project, after the provincial government of Cavite said it did not receive a competitive proposal from other parties to challenge the conglomerate’s offer.
The Cavite government, through its public-private partnership selection committee, declared a failure of the competitive selection process for the development of the CBEX project.
“Despite adequate information and time given to all prospective bidders, no competitive proposal was received by the PPP-selection committee before the bid submission deadline, which was set on Jan. 24, “ the Cavite government said.
Cavite launched the competitive selection process for the CBEX project in November 2022 to seek comparative proposals for the selection of the province’s joint venture partner to develop the project. The joint venture partner will “finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the project under a 35-year concessional period.”
The provincial government earlier received and approved the unsolicited proposal of San Miguel Holdings Corp., the infrastructure unit of SMC, for the 27.06-kilometer Cavite-Batangas Expressway.
CBEX will traverse the municipalities of Silang, Amadeo, Tagaytay, Indang, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite and Nasugbu in Batangas. It is shorter than the proposed toll road submitted by another group to the national government.
Metro Pacific Tollway’s Corp. in 2018 proposed to the Department of Public Works and Highways a similar project that would also connect Cavite and Batangas through Tagaytay City.
The DPWH then granted the original proponent status to MPTC for CTBEX—a 50.4-kilometer toll road that will connect Cavite and Batangas, with a spur road to Tagaytay City and ultimately terminating in Nasugbu and another spur road to Tuy, Batangas.
MPTC confirmed that the P22.4-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway Project would overlap some portions of SMC’s Cavite-Batangas Expressway project.
CTBEX is expected to decongest about 23,000 vehicles daily from the nearby thoroughfares. Cavite and Batangas are rapidly-growing provinces that host major industrial parks, commercial districts and residential projects.
CTBEX will start at Silang East Interchange of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The alignment will traverse the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Mendez, Alfonso and Tagaytay in Cavite and Nasugbu in Batangas.