The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Wednesday bared optimism the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will approve the modernization of three regional airports proposed by Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. around the end of this month.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told the influential Makati Business Club (MBC) that the Laguindingan Airport, the Bohol-Panglao International Airport and the Bicol International Airport is calendared for inclusion at the NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee Cabinet Meeting on 29 May this year.
“These unsolicited proposals were submitted during the past administration, but we’re fast tracking their completion and hopefully the CAAP [ Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines] will submit all the documents requested by NEDA,” he added.
According to Bautista, the other unsolicited proposals seeking to upgrade airports include those in Iloilo , Puerto Princesa, Davao, Bacolod and Kalibo which are still under review due to amendments in the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
“With the new implementing rules and regulations, we requested the proponents to update their proposals. We expect the updated proposals within the next few weeks,” he said.
Another priority project in the aviation sector relates to the expansion and modernization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“We are working with the Asian Development Bank as our advisor to finalize the terms of reference, but even with that last April 27 we received an unsolicited proposal for the operations and maintenance of the NAIA from a group of conglomerates and we have acknowledged the receipt of their proposal,” Bautista said.
It will take at least 35 days to check the documents.
The Manila International Airport Consortium—a group of six Filipino conglomerates plus US-based Global Infrastructure Partners submitted a proposal to upgrade and modernize the NAIA at the cost of P100 billion.
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 in the proposed endeavor.
The consortium said the proposal include a significant upfront payment to the government and investments in new facilities and technology transforming NAIA into a world-class airport able to serve up to 62.5 million passengers a year efficiently by 2028—or more than double than its currently capacity of only 31 million passengers. Pre-pandemic or 2019 passenger traffic counted 48 million passengers.
