MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) believes that it will receive a maximum of eight bids for the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by Dec. 27.
According to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, the DOTr no longer expects additional buyers of bid documents for the operations and maintenance of NAIA until the deadline.
Bautista said it may be disadvantageous to purchase the bidding papers at this time given that the DOTr is close to completing the one-on-one meetings and site visits with other potential bidders.
“We don’t expect new bidders from here on [until Dec. 27] because it will take time to do the due diligence. It will take a longer time to make the proposal because they have to assess the project as well,” Bautista said.
In spite of this, Bautista believes the current pool of potential bidders is competitive enough. He also expects proposals to fall within the estimated cost of P170.6 billion, but said bids above that amount are welcomed as it will mean additional revenue on the part of the government.
To date, the DOTr has released bidding documents to eight companies, including GMR Airports International BV; San Miguel Holdings Corp.; Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC); Spark 888 Management; Asian Airport Consortium; and Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.;
The agency has also sold bidding papers to Incheon International Airport Corp. and Limak Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Manila International Airport Authority officer in charge Bryan Co said the DOTr would stick with the timetable for the privatization of NAIA no matter what.
As such, Co said the bidding process would be closed by Dec. 27. Afterward, the DOTr plans to grant the contract by the first quarter of 2024, with the project likely to reach financial closure six months later.
Right now, Co admitted that potential bidders are asking the DOTr to tweak a few of the metrics in the draft concession for the privatization. However, he said the agency would stand its ground on the concession period of 15 years, extendable by 10 years.
The concessionaire who will win the bidding will be tasked to improve the passenger capacity of NAIA to 62 million per annum from 32 million at present.
Earlier, MIAC, made up of the country’s largest conglomerates, had filed a P267 billion proposal to upgrade NAIA, but the DOTr rejected the offer in favor of a solicited bidding.