Chelsea’s Davao airport proposal gains headway

MANILA, Philippines — Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. of businessman Dennis Uy is poised to gain headway in its bid to operate and develop the Davao International Airport.

“The original proponent status is approved already. There is just an ad referendum that needs to be signed. Once it is signed, the OPS is given already,” Transportation Undersecretary for aviation Manuel Tamayo said.

“We are expecting to get it all done today,” Tamayo said yesterday.

Securing the OPS will give a project proponent an upper hand as it will have the right to match offers from other parties when a Swiss challenge is conducted for the project.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) last month favorably endorsed Chelsea’s unsolicited proposal to operate, maintain, and expand the Davao International Airport to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) since the latter has jurisdiction over the airport.

Transportation Undersecretary Ruben Reinoso earlier said Chelsea intends to invest around P49 billion under a proposed 30-year concession period.

Chelsea has previously submitted a bundled unsolicited proposal for a number of the country’s regional airports, but was rejected by the DOTr due to a change in policy direction.

The agency has instead asked the company to unbundle its proposal given that many of the airports can stand on their own, resulting in Chelsea picking the Davao International Airport.

Aside from the airport, the company also has a pending P11.2-billion unsolicited proposal to the Philippine Ports Authority for the modernization of the Sasa port in Davao City.

Chelsea is part of the Udenna Group’s growing business empire in the country which also has business in petroleum and oil through Phoenix Petroleum, real estate through Udenna Development, education through Enderun Colleges, and infrastructure through Udenna Infrastructure.