Japanese consultants press Piatco for payment of services

The Japanese consultants of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) are pressing payment for their services.

In a letter dated Dec. 4, 2002 to Piatco president Cheng Yong, the Japan Airport Consultants, Inc. complained about Piatco’s failure to sign a supplement agreement in furtherance of an earlier agreement on quality assurance called QA1.

Hideaki Uda, quality assurance manager of JACI, complained about Piatco’s continued refusal to sign the supplement agreement which had been forwarded to Piatco by JACI more than a month ago.

Uda pointed out that as far as JACI is concerned "there are no outstanding issues to be settled that could withhold execution of the SA and implement the QA1’s long overdue extension of services including the completed additional works."

Uda argued that "the validity/effectiveness of the QA1 agreement and the duly approved extension of the QA1 services, including the Runway 05/24 overlay project is not affected by the recent development questioning the validity of the concession agreement and its amendments, especially now that the QA1 has already substantially performed its works under the approved extension of QA1 services and has fully completed the Runway 06/24 overlay project."

As such, Uda insisted, "we should proceed with the execution of the supplement agreement so that appropriate payment could be made to the QA1 for its services."

JACI’s letter indicates that additional work remains to be done and that it would only be completed upon payment of the earlier services made by the Japanese firm.

Piatco has been claiming that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 is complete and ready for opening.

However, contractors of the airport have reportedly suspended operations pending payment by Piatco of their earlier works.

Edgardo C. Manda, general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), had also written Piatco expressing his view that the NAIA-T3 is still not ready.

Manda pointed out that based on the QA1 report, "a considerable number of systems completion tests have either failed or have been inadequate, requiring re-tests to be undertaken."

Manda also took note of the suspension of work on the NAIA-T3 due to non-payment by Piatco.

The suspension of work on the NAIA-T3, Manda said, "is proof by itself that it will take a considerable length of time before the T3 facility can be completed and ready for operation."