With no potential challenger, SMC set to bag airport project

MANILA, Philippines — Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is all set to claim the Bulacan airport project today with no potential challenger in sight after over three months of waiting.

Transportation Assistant Secretary for procurement Giovanni Lopez told The STAR that no company or group bought bid documents for the New Manila International Airport Project in Bulacan as of yesterday.

Lopez, however, said interested challengers could still buy and submit their bids until 9 a.m. today.

A source from the private sector said it is already “practically impossible” for a potential challenger to buy the bid documents and submit a bid within the same day.

“Usually there’s a lot of requirements that take many days to process,” the source said.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) published last April 12 an invitation to interested companies and groups to submit comparative proposals for the airport project that will rise in the province of Bulacan which kicked off the Swiss challenge process for the project.

Under the Swiss challenge rules, in the event that a comparative proponent submits a bid proposal better than the one submitted by the original proponent, which is San Miguel, the original proponent shall have the right to match the offer.

A pre-bid conference for the New Manila International Airport Project was held last June 20, but no challenger showed up.

Lopez earlier said the bids and awards committee would be issuing a resolution recommending the award to San Miguel in the event no one challenges its proposal by July 31.

The DOTr will then issue a notice of award within three days from the issuance of the resolution. Upon the notice of award, the winning proponent would have to meet certain conditions such as submission of necessary documents.

San Miguel’s P754 billion airport proposal aims to develop a new international gateway airport with air passenger terminal facilities with an ultimate design capacity of 100 million annual passengers, as well as airside facilities with an ultimate configuration of four parallel runways.

It also includes aviation-related equipment and support facilities, as well as an eight-kilometer airport toll road linking the project with the North Luzon Exrpressway.

The project is expected to ease congestion at the country’s main international gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

SMC president Ramon Ang earlier said his group is hopeful that it could hit the ground running on actual construction of the project this year.