NAIA Consortium gains headway in rehab proposals

MANILA, Philippines — The consortium of seven conglomerates has secured from the government its much sought-after original proponent status (OPS) for its plan to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Transportation Undersecretary Manuel Antonio Tamayo told The STAR that the consortium was granted the OPS by the Manila International Airport Authority’s (MIAA) board yesterday.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) last month recommended the grant of OPS to the NAIA consortium, which is composed of some of the country’s biggest conglomerates, namely 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.

DOTr’s recommendation, however, required approval from MIAA’s board of directors, being the lead agency for the project.

The National Economic and Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee can now proceed with the evaluation of the NAIA rehabilitation project.

Once approved by the NEDA board, the project will be subjected to a Swiss challenge.

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

In a statement over the weekend, NAIA Consortium spokesperson Jimbo Reverente urged the government to approve its proposal at the soonest possible time, saying that “time is of the essence” because every year’s delay would cost the country opportunity losses in terms of trade, investments, tourism and employment.

Reverente said the consortium could act quickly because it already has the design, the funds, the technical partner (Changi Airport), and the people to make NAIA what it should be.

The group is ready to start construction upon securing the notice to proceed (NTP) and deliver the first phase of expanding NAIA’s capacity by 2020, Reverente said.

“We can make this hope and dream into a reality in just two years’ time from NTP issuance,” he said.

The group initially offered to spend P350 billion for the NAIA upgrade for a concession period of 35 years under the proposal submitted to the DOTr on Feb. 12.

The proposal promises to have a NAIA capacity that will match the 2020 projection of 47 million and then increase it to 65 million by 2022.

At present, NAIA’s four terminals currently handle far more passengers than they were built for, having a capacity for 31 million passengers per year but handled 42 million last year.