The government is offering tax perks to the winning bidder of the P170.6-billion deal to rehabilitate, optimize and maintain the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Based on the NAIA project information memorandum, the incentives include an income tax holiday for four years and another five years of enhanced deductions thereafter as allowed by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law.
The successful bidder is also exempt from customs duties for capital equipment imports, raw materials, spare parts and accessories as a registered business enterprise. Non-tax incentives such as unrestricted use of consigned equipment, employment of foreign nationals in supervisory, technical or advisory positions not exceeding five years, extendible for limited periods and access to bonded manufacturing/trading privileges. But the winning bidder is required to pay the government up front P30 billion and a fixed annuity of P2 billion paid annually.
The government also has a share of the gross revenue, excluding the passenger service charge (PSC) revenue, based on the percentage share bid by the concessionaire.
As of 13 September, the Department of Transportation received interest from at least five potential bidders for the NAIA project. The interested groups include San Miguel Corp., India’s GMR Group, the Manila International Airport Consortium, Spark 888 Management Inc. and the Asian Airport Consortium.
The pre-bid conference is set for 22 September and bid submission by 27 December this year.
The DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) serve as co-grantors for the project, which would have a 15-year concession and an option for a 10-year extension.
The government expects to award the contract towards year end.
The NAIA project entails capital investments to improve the airport’s facilities in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other internationally accepted standards.
This means modernizing the terminals, optimizing and enhancing its capacity to 62 million passengers per annum, enhancing asset quality and passenger experience, improving the information and technology systems infrastructure, and ensuring reliable operations over the period of the concession.The concessionaire is responsible for both land side and airside operations of the NAIA.
