5 groups qualify to bid for regional airports project

MANILA, Philippines - Five groups have been pre-qualified to bid for the regional airports project under the public private partnership (PPP) program.

In its General Bid Bulletin No.10-2015 dated Sept. 18, the Department of Transportation and Communications said the following groups have been pre qualified for the project: Filinvest-JATCO-Sojitz Consortium; GMR Infrastructure & Megawide Consortium; Maya Consortium (Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. and VINCI Airports); Philippine Airports Consortium (Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Aeroports de Paris Management S.A. and TAV Havalimanlari Holdings A.S.); and SMHC (San Miguel Holdings Corp.) – IIAC (Incheon International Airport Corp.) Consortium. 

Union Equities - ACSA Consortium meanwhile, was disqualified as the documents submitted for its reference projects undertaken outside the Philippines failed to comply with the requirement to be authenticated by a Philippine consular official. 

The regional airports project is being bid out in two bundles. 

Bundle 1 covers the P20.26 billion Bacolod-Silay Aiport and P30.40 billion Iloilo Airport, while Bundle 2 consists of the P40.57 billion Davao Airport, P14.62 billion Laguindingan Airport and P2.34 billion New Bohol Airport.

The winning bidder for each bundle would be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the airports for 30 years, and in expanding the facilities.

Upgrades need to be undertaken as the airports are operating beyond their capacity.

The opening of bids for the project would be held in January next year.

The notice of award for the project, meanwhile, is scheduled in February.

The regional airports project is the second to be bid out under the government’s flagship PPP program.

Last year, GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Consortium was awarded the P17.52 billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building PPP project.

Apart from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building Project, the government has awarded nine other projects under the PPP program. These are the Daang Hari - South Luzon Expressway Link Road (Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway) Project; PPP for School Infrastructure Project – Phase I; Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway Project (Phase II); PPP for School Infrastructure Project – Phase II; Modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center; Automatic Fare Collection System; Light Rail Transit Line 1 Cavite Extension and Operation and Maintenance; Southwest Integrated Transport System Project; and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway.

In 2010, the government launched the PPP program to accelerate the country’s infrastructure development and achieve sustained economic growth.