The auction on Friday for the first segment of a Central Luzon project envisioned to help decongest Metro Manila failed after two parties qualified to participate did not submit bids, the Bases and Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) said.
BCDA’s Web site bore a red “failed” notice on the entry on the auction for the first 245-hectare (ha) area of the 9,450-ha Clark Green City.
“Both of them bought the terms of reference (ToR) last month, but they did not submit bids during the bidding today,” BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said in a telephone interview on Friday, referring to Megaworld Corp. and Filinvest Land, Inc. which had qualified to bid for the area’s development.
Asked why both parties did not submit offers, Mr. Casanova replied: “We’re not so sure. We have to talk to Megaworld and Filinvest.”
“We have to look again at the ToR. We need to go through the options we will take, but definitely we will push it again.”
Sought for comment, Megaworld Public Relations and Communications Head Harold C. Geronimo said in a mobile phone reply on Friday: “[W]e don’t have any statement on that.”
Filinvest Land, on the other hand, had yet to respond to queries as of late Friday afternoon.
The auction involved a 254-hectare (ha) property, which is one of the five 200-300-ha segments making up the first phase of the Clark Green City.
The ToR said the area has two components, namely: mixed-use (residential, commercial and institutional) and industrial that will be developed according to the principles of “green, smart and disaster-resilient developments”.
Cumulative developments are subject to a maximum allowable gross floor area totaling 6.465 million square meters (sq.m.), consisting of 4.84 million sq.m. for mixed-use and 1.625 million sq.m. for industrial developments.
Clark Green City is located within Clark Special Economic Zone in the province of Tarlac, BCDA said in an invitation to bid posted on its Web site on Feb. 19.
BCDA said it is looking for a joint-venture partner that will infuse P2.5 billion in capital and “with proven track record in the development, marketing, management and leasing of large property mixed-use development.”
The winning bidder will own 55 per cent of the joint venture firm, while the government will take the remaining 45 per cent.
The auction had set a floor premium of P500 million on top of the initial capital for the joint venture firm. “The eligible bidder who offers the highest premium shall be declared the winning bidder, subject to post-qualification,” the invitation read.
Clark Green City is envisioned to be “the country’s first smart, green and disaster-resilient metropolis” that will have five districts, namely: government district; central business district; academic district; agro-forestry research and development district; as well as wellness, recreation and eco-tourism district.
The master plan project for the entire Clark Green City was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority Board in May last year, while a $1.7-million feasibility study is under way for the Food Processing Terminal Project there under the government’s flagship public-private partnership program.
A study last year of the Japan International Cooperation Agency on ways to decongest Metro Manila said: “Clark Green City is expected to serve the core for development of the regional cluster in central and northern Luzon.”
