Six companies have bought prequalification documents for the New Centennial Water Source - Kaliwa Dam Project (NCWS-KDP) in the Philippines.

The six firms are the following: San Miguel Corporation, Leighton Contractors, Abeinsa Infraestructuras (Abengoa Group), Armando U. Khong Hun General Contractor, Datem Inc. and Pan Pacific Renewables Power Phils. Corp. They have until September 16th to submit their  pre-qualification documents.

The preferred bidder will be responsible for the designing, financing, and construction of the project. Under a build and transfer (B&T) contractual arrangement the Philippines government will pay the preferred bidder with fixed annual payment over 25 years.

The project involves the development of the Kaliwa Dam, the intake facilities, other pertinent facilities and a water conveyance tunnel. Its objective is to ensure water security, increase Metro Manila's raw water supply to meet future potable water demand, and as a redundant water source, thereby reducing the total dependency on the Angat Dam reservoir.

The total project investment is estimated at PhP 18.72 billion (US$408.3 million) project.

In early July the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) launched the pre-qualification round for the project. The Invitation to Pre-Qualify and Bid (ITPB) came after MWSS did not shortlist any bidder for the project in a first prequalification round. As we reported in early June three companies failed to qualify: San Miguel Corporation, Megawide Construction Corporation and Abeinsa (Abengoa Group).