The unsolicited proposal of the Manila International Airport Consortium to upgrade and rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is still alive despite a rival solicited Public Private Partnership (PPP) proposal submitted by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA),
“We are proceeding right now in parallel. At the moment that’s where we are,” Transportation undersecretary for Aviation and Airports, Roberto Lim, said in an online briefing.
According to him, the DOTr is coordinating with the NEDA which is evaluating the proposal and hopefully a decision is reached in a month or two.
On Friday, the DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority ( MIAA) submitted a joint proposal under the PPP mode to rehabilitate and upgrade the NAIA for P141 billion. The private proponents have 15 years to operate the airport and recover their investment.
Lim said the NEDA Board chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and not just the DOTr will decide how best to privatize the NAIA.
“This is not the first time the NAIA attempted to use the PPP as a model of privatizing the complex. As early as 2016 there already were studies doing that. There were proposals also in the last administration to do a PPP but everything was cancelled,” he said.
Lim said this third attempt at PPP is a good way to roll out infrastructure development as government need not borrow money as the private sector will invest on it quickly and that at the end of the concession the project is handed back to the government.
If the NEDA Board favors a NAIA privatization through solicited PPP, Lim said the DOTr will open the project to a bidding by September this year.
Lim, however, said the NEDA Board is evaluating the unsolicited proposal using parameters used in solicited PPP models.
“We are meeting them [MIAC next week. We will make a decision on how to implement the privatization. We have to remember the unsolicited proposal was submitted by a group dedicated to helping the country modernize our airport. They are serious about the facility and they are putting in a big investment. They definitely have the resources to undertake this project to do it quickly,” he added.
In April this year, Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Alliance Global – Infracorp Development Inc., Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp. joined forces with Global Infrastructure Partners to rehabilitate and upgrade NAIA for P100 billion.
The consortium said the bid includes a significant upfront payment to the government and investments in new facilities and technology to transform NAIA into a world-class airport
An earlier consortium submitted in 2018 an unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate NAIA for P102 billion which did not push through after two years of negotiation over unresolved issues with government and the financial viability of the project.
Megawide Construction Corp. and partner India-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd. also submitted a proposal to rehabilitate and upgrade NAIA for $3 billion with a contract period of 18 years.
