After much ado, the business brouhaha is finally over. (Or, is it?)
“The Pasay City government has chosen SM Land Inc. of retail magnate Henry Sy as the proponent for the controversial 300-hectare Manila Bay reclamation project worth PHP54.5 billion,” reports Lawrence Agcaoili in The Philippine Star.
The report cited Pasay City legal officer Severo Madrona, who explained, “In the absence of any competing proposal from any qualified bidder received by the committee, the city government proceeded to sign the joint venture agreement (JVA) with SM Land which was subsequently ratified by the city council.”
Madrona further stated that “unsolicited proposal submitted by SM Land was advantageous to the city government and is compatible with the government center reclamation project of the Philippine Reclamation Authority.”
He added that they couldn’t extend the 30-day period for submission of counter-proposals, as requested by Ayala Land Inc. and S&P Construction Technologies, since it would be “tantamount to changing the rules midstream and would expose the city to charges of bending the rules to favor a particular company.”
Photo by user Zerwell via WikiCommons
