PHL to bid out P15.52-B NAIA Expressway next month 

The government is finally bidding out Phase II of the P15.52-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Expressway that will link the three airport terminals to Entertainment City – the gamblers paradise in Pasay City.

 

The Department of Public Works and Highways noted in a brief on its website that submission of bids for the project is due on Feb. 26 with the notice of award scheduled sometime in April and the contract approval sometime in May. 

 

In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chair Cristino Naguiat Jr. said the expressway linking NAIA-1, -2, and -3 as as well as providing direct land transportation to Entertainment City on Roxas Boulevard is up for bidding.

 

The government had postponed the original bidding schedule in June last year, saying it wanted to give investors interested the project more time to prepare for their bid.

 

Among companies that were interested to bid for the project were Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., DM Consunji, EEI Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., Macquarie Capital Securities, EGIS Projects, M/S IL and FS Transportation Network, Alloy MTD Philippines, J.E. Manalo Construction, Daelim Philippines, and C.M. Pancho Construction.

 

As one of the big-ticket infrastructure projects under the Aquino administration's public-private partnership program, the NAIA Expressway Phase II is supposed to limit to eight minutes the 24-minute average travel time from the Skyway to NAIA-1.

 

PAGCOR license holders in the Entertainment City – a Las Vegas-style development – are providing P6.5 billion in financing or nearly half of the project cost of NAIA Expressway Phase II, said Naguiat.

 

The locators include container port terminal magnate Enrique Razon's Bloomberry Resorts Corp., tycoon Henry Sy's Belle Corp., Travellers Hotel Group – a joint venture of businessman Andrew Tan's Alliance Global Group Inc. and Malaysian conglomerate Genting Group – and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada's Universal Entertainment Corp.

 

The 7.5 km four-lane elevated expressway was approved by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) on May 30, 2012. Construction was expected to take two years, and full operations to start in 2016. 

 

The government is paying for the road right of way of acquisitions estimated at P1.021 billion. 

 

NAIA Expressway Phase II involves several start start off points from the Skyway, including the road alignments over Sales Avenue, Andrews Avenue, Domestic Road, and NAIA Road. Apart from providing links and access to the NAIA terminals and the Skyway, it will also link to Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway and the proposed NLEX-SLEX Connector Road and the Metro Manila Skyway-Stage 3 extension to Araneta Avenue. — VS, GMA News