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The Department of Transportation aims to sign the contract for the P170.6-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport rehabilitation project by March 15, 2024
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A notice of award is eyed on February 15
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Bids from Asian Airport Consortium, GMR Airports Consortium, Manila International Airport Consortium, and SMC SAP & Company Consortium cleared the initial qualification assessment
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) aims to sign the contract for the P170.6-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) rehabilitation project by March 15, 2024.
According to Transport undersecretary for planning and project development Timothy John Batan, also the Pre-qualification Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) chair, four groups cleared pre-qualification during the opening of bids on December 27: Asian Airport Consortium (AAC), GMR Airports Consortium, Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), and SMC SAP & Company Consortium.
READ: 4 consortiums bid for P170.6B NAIA rehabilitation
The PBAC will now proceed with a detailed evaluation, scheduled to conclude no later than January 6, 2024. The announcement of qualified bidders is expected by January 11. Technical proposals for qualified bidders will open on January 15, with the announcement of successful bidders on February 5.
The opening of financial proposals is tentatively scheduled on February 7 while the result of the evaluation will be announced on February 14. The PBAC aims to issue the notice of award on February 15 while the deadline for post-award requirements submission by the winning bidder is set on March 6.
Subsequently, the PBAC has until March 12 to ensure compliance with post-award requirements and targets the signing of the concession on March 15. Following this, the winning bidder has up to 180 days to fulfill the conditions preceding the operations and maintenance start date, slated for September 11.
Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier said the DOTr targets to award the rehabilitation project by the first quarter of 2024 and reach the “financial close” or payment of upfront fee of P30 billion in the second quarter next year.
MIAC is composed of GIP EM MIAC Pte. Ltd., Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Alliance Global – Infracorp Development Inc., Filinvest Development Corp., and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp.
AAC consists of Asian Infrastructure and Management Corp., Cosco Capital, Inc.; Philippine Skylanders Int’l, Inc.; and PT Angkasa Pura II.
GMR is composed of GMR Airports International B.V., Cavitex Holdings, Inc.; and House of Investments, Inc.
SMC SAP, meanwhile, consists of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics, Inc.; RLW Aviation Development Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp.
The 15-year contract involves the rehabilitation, expansion and operation of NAIA to address long standing capacity issues. The project aims to increase NAIA’s annual capacity to at least 62 million passengers from 35 million and enhance air traffic movement from 40 to 48 per hour.
The contract adheres to Republic Act No. 6957, as amended by Republic Act No. 7718 (Build-Operate-and-Transfer Law), and its 2022 revised implementing rules and regulations.
Under a rehabilitate-operate-expand-transfer arrangement, the winning bidder has 15 years to enhance airport passenger terminals, airside facilities, develop commercial assets and utility systems, and provide surface access facilities for intermodal transfer, inter-terminal passenger transfer facilities, and services, among other obligations.
The concession period may be extended by another 10 years. The concession agreement mandates an upfront payment of P30 billion post-awarding of contract, a fixed annuity payment of P2 billion annually, and a government share of gross revenue—excluding passenger service charge revenue—based on the percentage share bid by the concessionaire. – Roumina Pablo
