NAIA Consortium proposal to reach NEDA soon

MANILA, Philippines — The unsolicited proposal of a super consortium to modernize and operate the country’s main international gateway is expected to reach the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) level soon after clearing various technical issues with the government in the past few months.

Transportation Undersecretary for aviation Manuel Tamayo said the P102-billion proposal remained at the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) level since it was awarded the original proponent status (OPS) in September.

“There were still a lot of issues that were seen. It’s more of the project details like technical issues,” Tamayo said without disclosing details.

MIAA was due to submit its final evaluation report to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) last Friday.

 “And then from DOTr, it will just be quick. If everything is complete, maximum is two days then we’ll endorse it to NEDA,” Tamayo said.

Tamayo said it was still possible to bring the project to the NEDA level within the year given that there would still be several more working days left.

“How long will it stay with NEDA, I don’t know,” he said.

The consortium of seven conglomerates has been granted the OPS by the MIAA board last Aug. 6 to rehabilitate and expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). It was officially awarded with the OPS last Sept. 13.

The grant of OPS to the NAIA consortium would give the group the right to match offers from other parties when a Swiss challenge is conducted for the project.

But before reaching the Swiss challenge process, the proposal will still have to be evaluated by the Investment Coordination Committee of NEDA and then secure the NEDA Board’s final approval.

The DOTr was earlier eyeing to complete the Swiss challenge process for the NAIA rehabilitation proposal this year, but was pushed back to the second quarter of 2019.

Under the timeline presented by the consortium to the DOTr, construction is targeted to commence by September next year, Tamayo said.

The NAIA Consortium, composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., intends to pour in P102 billion to rehabilitate, upgrade,  operate, and maintain the aging NAIA, the country’s main gateway, for 15 years.

The unsolicited proposal, which was submitted to the DOTr and to the MIAA last Feb. 12, aims to transform NAIA into a regional airport hub and will expand its capacity to meet the anticipated growth in passenger traffic from the economies of the Philippines and the region.

The project supports the government’s Build Build Build program with its plan to develop NAIA into a world-class facility and a regional air transport hub by upgrading its airside, landside and air navigation support — building on the gains already achieved by the DOTr in terms of improving the traffic of aircraft movements on its runways.