MPIC eyes services of Indra Group for Clark airport study

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) may likely tap the services of the Madrid-based Indra Group to conduct the feasibility study and act as technical consultant for the development of a comprehensive Clark international airport project.

MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan told The STAR that Indra has an arm that does airport studies, design and engineering. Indra Philippines is an affiliate of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), a public utility controlled by Pangilinan’s group, and is part of the global Indra family headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It has become one of the leading information technology service providers in the country and in the Asia Pacific region, and has projects in the utilities and energy, banking and insurance, and public sectors.

Pangilinan said they have received an offer from Indra to conduct the study for the Clark project. “It is likely that we will award it to them,” he noted.

MPIC is looking at a total new international airport project for the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) that will include not only a passenger terminal but also a new runway, road network and railway express that will run all the way from Clark in Pampanga to Makati.

Pangilinan earlier said they hope that the government’s private-public sector partnership (PPP) program will include not only the passenger terminal but the entire project as well.

He explained that while it may take some time before the project takes off, an airport express train service will be needed if the Clark airport seeks to attract more foreign carriers.

“The Philippines is the only country which still does not have an airport express service,” he stressed.

Pangilinan said the airport express project can be complementary to the NLEX-SLEX connector road project that will be undertaken by MPIC subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC). “We do not know yet whether it is the connector road or the airport express railroad that will be constructed above the PNR tracks. We are thinking of three levels. On the ground will be the Philippine National Railway (PNR) rail system, and above it are the connector road or the airport express railroad. But the two projects will both use the PNR right-of-way,” he said.

Last June, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) accepted MPTC’s unsolicited proposal to undertake the P17-billion, 13.2-kilometer elevated connector road project that will connect the North Luzon Expressway with the South Luzon Expressway.

The connector road will run along the PNR tracks within the Manila central business district, from the end of NLEX at C3 to the beginning of Skyway 1 at Buendia, and is projected to start in 2012.

He pointed out that while the train project may compete in some way with the connector road project, he emphasized that what is needed is to bring in more people into Clark.

As envisioned, he said the airport express may have three stops: Balintawak, España and Buendia.

Pangilinan noted that one of the requirements among foreign air carriers is for a train to travel 40 minutes from Metro Manila to Clark for them to locate at DMIA. “The speed of the train must be calibrated,” he said.

In an earlier interview, MPTC president Ramoncito Fernandez said it is very natural for the Clark airport to use the NLEX right-of-way for a possible high-speed rail. “If you have an airport in the north, you need a high-speed rail that will bring passengers in and out of the airport,” he added.

Both MPIC and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) earlier announced that they are in talks on the possibility of being partners in joining a Filipino-Korean consortium led by Philco Aero which earlier made an unsolicited proposal to construct a $177 million (more than P8 billion) new terminal (Terminal 2) at the DMIA.

But when asked on the status of talks with SMC, Pangilinan revealed that they have not discussed the matter with SMC lately, even as the MPIC chairman said that they are still open to the possibility of entering into a partnership with other groups for Clark.