Winner of NAIA privatization bid to be known by December —Bautista

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is eyeing to hand over the operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the winning private bidder by December this year.

“If we will be able to publish the Terms of Reference, then we can accept the bids after the publication. We can give them two months to submit the bids, with a leeway for extension," Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told reporters in a chance interview.

"If we will give them three months after August, by November we can already open the bids and then we can give the award by the end of December,” added Bautista. 

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on Wednesday approved the DOTr and Manila International Airport Authority’s (MIAA) joint proposal to privatize the operations of the country’s main gateway through a solicited mode.

In June, the DOTr and MIAA submitted a joint proposal to the NEDA Board seeking a private concessionaire to invest in modern air traffic control equipment, rehabilitate runways and taxiways, and improve existing terminal facilities for a period of 15 years.

The agency had also said that the call for interested firms to bid for the operations, maintenance, and upgrading of NAIA is targeted in September this year.

“Hopefully, by the middle of 2024, the concession agreement with the winning bidder can be signed,” Bautista said.

Meanwhile, the unsolicited proposal of the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), which seeks a longer concession period of 25 years, has been “de facto closed” due to the approval of the DOTr’s solicited proposal to privatize NAIA.

The MIAC — composed of US-based Global Infrastructure Partners and Philippine conglomerates Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Alliance Global-Infracorp Development Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp. — has submitted a P267 billion unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and develop the NAIA into a modernized gateway.

Bautista reiterated that the discussions on the MIAC’s unsolicited proposal have been closed.

“But, we’ll invite them to participate in the solicited process,” the Transportation chief said.

In a statement, the MIAC said that regardless of the route, “we firmly believe that NAIA’s modernization requires a long-term and comprehensive solution delivered by a credible and capable party at the quickest possible time.”

This is the third time that the government had set aside an unsolicited proposal for the private sector’s takeover of NAIA’s operations and maintenance.

During the previous administration, two major proposals were made to rehabilitate the airport, one from the NAIA Consortium which included Tan’s Asia’s Emerging Dragon, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., and JG Summit Holdings Inc.

The Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. was also part of the consortium until it pulled out early last year.

Another proposal was submitted by a consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd.

The proposals of the NAIA Consortium and the Megawide consortium were eventually rejected by the government.

Meanwhile, the NAIA public-private partnership project has an estimated cost of P170.6 billion. The goal of the project is to address longstanding issues at NAIA such as the inadequate capacity of passenger terminal buildings and restricted aircraft movement.

The privatization project also aims to increase the current annual airport capacity from 35 million to at least 62 million passengers as well as increase air traffic movement from 40 to 48 per hour. —VAL, GMA Integrated News