NEDA wants clearer proposal on Sangley airport development

MANILA, Philippines — The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has returned to the Cavite provincial government its unsolicited proposal to develop an international airport in Sangley as the agency seeks further clarifications on the proponent’s airport plan.

“It was submitted to NEDA, but it was returned by NEDA to them. NEDA wants clarifications on its implementing arrangements. What is legal basis for the proposal, is it a joint venture or BOT (build-operate-transfer) law? What do they mean by government to government? So there is not that much clarity that is why they need to answer these questions,” Transportation Undersecretary Ruben Reinoso said.

Reinoso, however, said he has no knowledge as to whether or not NEDA has given the Cavite government a deadline to submit a much clearer proposal.

The Department of Transportation has approved the Cavite government’s P552.02-billion unsolicited proposal to develop an international airport in Sangley in July last year, but no significant progress has been made since then.

Because it is a government-initiated project, the DOTr prioritized it over an unsolicited proposal submitted by a private group.

The Tieng-led All Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp. has made a $12-billion unsolicited offer to finance, construct and develop a new airport to be called Philippine Sangley International Airport in Sangley, Cavite.

The proposal seeks to make a regional airport hub, which can accommodate about 120 million passengers per year, entailing an investment of $12 billion for development cost alone and a concession period of 50 years.

“We have rejected that because the provincial government came to us that they would like to implement it. Of course we told the provincial government that if you want to implement it as a provincial government undertaking, we have no objection to that. Then we sent notice to the private group and told them we have preferred the government’s offer,” Reinoso said.