NAIA PPP on hold amid review of airport projects

By Imee Charlee C. Delavin, Senior Reporter | Posted on February 13, 2017

THE PLANNED P74.56-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Development Project, a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative, is on hold for now as Transportation authorities consolidate proposals in order to make airport decongestion efforts more coherent.

“Because of the need to have a complete, holistic approach for the airports in the greater capital region, [the DoTr] is looking at these various options that they have on the table. That means they have to decide holistically — the new airport, the Clark development and the NAIA because these are all going to affect each other,” PPP Center Executive Director Ferdinand A. Pecson told reporters in a recent interview.

“That means instead of deciding individually moving forward, they’re looking at this in an integrated manner which makes sense,” he added.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) approved the project to upgrade all four terminals of the country’s main gateway in September, which includes operation and maintenance to be offered to investors, with a 15- to 20-year concession agreement targeted to be signed in September.

In the meantime, the PPP chief said the government is focusing on the unbundled regional airports as it pushes ahead with its plan to develop international gateways in the countryside.

The Department of Transportation late last month released an invitation for prospective investors to pre-qualify and bid for five airport development, operation and maintenance projects: Bacolod-Silay, Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan in northern Mindanao and Bohol (Panglao) worth a total of P108.18 billion.

“Our focus now is the regional airports … we are working on an internal timeline … but our target is to have them operational by 2021,” the PPP Center’s Mr. Pecson said.

Rolled out during the Aquino administration, the regional airports projects were previously bundled into two packages — the first with the P20.26-billion Bacolod-Silay Airport and the P30.40-billion Iloilo Airport, and the second comprising the P40.57-billion Davao Airport, the P14.62-billion Laguindingan Airport and the P2.34-billion New Bohol (Panglao) Airport. The bidding did not materialize.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) — through Philippine Airports Consortium which includes Aeroports de Paris and ADP Ingenierie — the Aboitiz-led Maya Consortium; San Miguel Holdings Corp.-Incheon International Airport Corp. Consortium; the Gotianun-led Filinvest-Jatco-Sojitz Consortium and the GMR-Megawide Consortium were pre-qualified by the previous government for the airport projects.

In a statement on its Web site, the PPP Center quoted the Transport department as saying that previously pre-qualified bidders remain cleared to submit bids for the projects under the new offer “provided that there are no changes in their legal, technical, and/or financial capacity.”

San Miguel, Metro Pacific, Megawide and Filinvest had confirmed they remained interested to join the auction.

Other interested parties may purchase for a non-refundable fee of P300,000 per airport project documents consisting of the invitation to pre-qualify and bid, project information memoranda and instructions to prospective bidders at Unit 164, 16th floor, The Columbia Tower, Ortigas Ave., Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.

The regional airport projects is the second airport PPP deal after the P17.52-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport bagged by the Megawide-GMR consortium on April 4, 2014.