THE competitive challenge for the P22.43-billion Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEX), an unsolicited proposal of Metro Pacific Tollways South Corp. (MPTSC), is expected to be launched by the first half of next year, pending the approval of the deal from several government agencies.

Public Works Undersecretary Maria Catalina E. Cabral said the agency aims to officially subject the proposal to a Swiss Challenge as early as the first quarter of next year, even as it continues to review the feasibility of the deal through November.

“The Swiss Challenge, which will take about 60 days, will be within the first to the second quarter of 2018,” she said in a news conference on Wednesday. “We are optimistic and hopeful that we can ground break for this sometime next year.”

In a nutshell, a Swiss Challenge is a legal process of inviting other groups to bid for an unsolicited deal. The original proponent, then, has the right to submit a counteroffer.

Currently, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is evaluating the proposal that was submitted by the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. in July. The company has forwarded additional documents last month to answer issues raised by the DPWH.

“We are now processing and reviewing the study submitted to us. We’ll go to Neda Board for its evaluation and approval soon after,” Cabral said, referring to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board.

If there will be no conflict, and it complies to conditions under the law on unsolicited proposals, the agency will be able to give the results of the evaluation “within November”.

Once this has been done, the DPWH may award the original proponent status to Metro Pacific.

CTBEX, a proposed 49-kilometer expressway, will connect Cavite and Batangas, with a spur road to Tagaytay City and, ultimately, terminating in Nasugbu, with another spur road to Tuy, Batangas.

MPTSC President Luigi L. Bautista said the project will greatly improve access to Tagaytay City and Nasugbu, thereby ensuring faster travel and support for the government’s tourism thrust. Once completed, travel time will be reduced to less than an hour from the current 2.5 hours, he said.

“The whole expressway will take about three years to complete, but we will open the first section in one and a half years, since the government aims to award the contract by mid-2018,” he added.

CTBEX will start at the Silang East Interchange of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway. The alignment shall traverse the towns of Silang, Amadeo, Mendez and Alfonso in Cavite; Tagaytay City; and Nasugbu in Batangas.

Expected to handle an initial 60,000 vehicles per day, the proposed expressway will have eight major interchanges, two spur roads and a number of overpasses.

It is divided into three phases: Section 1, a 17.4-km road from Silang, Cavite to Tagaytay; Section 2, a 9.86-km road from Tagaytay to Alfonso; and Section 3, a 22.2-km road from Alfonso to Nasugbu.

When awarded by mid-2018, the proponent can start the construction of the infrastructure by the third quarter 2019. The whole expressway is expected to be opened by mid-2022, the last year of President Duterte’s term.

Metro Pacific, an infrastructure-holdings conglomerate in the Philippines, is no stranger to unsolicited proposals for toll projects.

After six long years, it bagged the multibillion-peso connector road, an 8-km road that will link the North and South Luzon Expressways. It also has existing proposals for the development of thoroughfares in Metro Manila.

Metro Pacific is the largest tollways operator in the Philippines. It also has interests in expressways Thailand and Vietnam.