Government opens bidding for NAIA privatization

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has opened the bidding for the estimated P170.6-billion contract to operate and maintain the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

In an invitation to bid, the DOTr said it has opened the floor for interested parties to vie for the contract to rehabilitate and upgrade NAIA.

The DOTr, along with the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), will conduct a single-stage bidding process for the rehabilitate-operate-expand-transfer deal.

The DOTr said the bidding is open to all private firms, whether Filipino or foreign owned, provided they meet the qualifications set under the Build-Operate-Transfer Law. Likewise, the DOTr mandates that participants maintain a net worth of at least P20 billion.

Apart from this, the DOTr said the bidder has to arrange the funding for the project through a mix of debt and equity. As such, bidders must provide a letter from a domestic or foreign bank, authorized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, affirming their credit and financial strength.

Based on the bidding schedule, the DOTr will issue the draft concession agreement on Sept. 8 and will host site visits for interested parties between Aug. 28 and Nov. 14.

The agency will conduct the pre-bid conference on Sept. 22 and will complete two rounds of one-on-one meetings with prospective bidders in October.

Afterward, the DOTr will release the final bid bulletin and concession agreement on Dec. 4 and will accept bids based on these documents until Dec. 27.

As a protocol, bidders have to pay a non-refundable fee of P2.75 million, or $50,000, to join the process and access the virtual data room. They also have to sign a non-disclosure undertaking as a confidentiality agreement for all the information during the bidding.

In July, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board approved the P170.6-billion project to operate and maintain the Manila airport. The NEDA Board hopes that through a public-private partnership undertaking, NAIA will be improved on all fronts.

In particular, the future operator of NAIA will be required to raise the passenger capacity of the airport to 62 million per year by the end of the concession, from 32 million at present.

The concessionaire will be given a period of 15 years, extendable by 10 years, to complete all of the projects that will be asked of it.