NAIA Consortium to resubmit proposal by early May

MANILA, Philippines — The consortium which groups the country’s seven conglomerates will resubmit early next month its proposal to upgrade the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

NAIA Consortium spokesperson Jose Reverente said yesterday the group composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. would submit the proposal reflecting the preferences of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) including having a shorter concession period “likely by early May.”

“We are under negotiations now and we’re looking at alternative timelines the DOTr has recommended we look at. We’ll try to put together a proposal that reflects their preferences,” he said.

Last week, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said the NAIA Consortium’s proposal submitted last Feb.12, which covers a 35-year concession period is too long, with the country’s main airport seen to be only viable for 10 years with expected improvements in technology and continued congestion.

As such, he asked the NAIA Consortium to resubmit a proposal with a shorter concession period of 15 years.

“We are having negotiations…They will resubmit on the basis of 15 (years concession) period,” Tugade said.

Under the proposal submitted by the NAIA Consortium, the group would upgrade the main international gateway under two phases at a cost of P350 billion.

Phase 1, which will cost P100 billion, will cover improvements and expanding the terminals at the existing NAIA land area to bring the annual capacity of the airport to 65 million passengers from 31 million, at present.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 will involve putting in place an additional runway, taxiways, passenger terminals and associated support infrastructure.

The consortium has an option to build a third runway.

Phase 2, as well as the third runway are estimated to cost P250 billion.

By undertaking the NAIA’s rehabilitation at a shorter concession period, Reverente said the project cost could be reduced.

“If the government has been saying that it’s too long, so we probably won’t be able to do Phase 2. To do Phase 2 will take almost 10 years. If the concession period is shorter, there won’t be enough time to recover the investment,” he said.

Even as the NAIA Consortium resubmits the proposal, Tugade said earlier that offer would still be processed ahead of the $3 billion proposal submitted by the group of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India last March 1.

Under the Megawide-GMR proposal, the group would develop the NAIA in three main phases within an 18-year concession period, with Phase 1a covering the improvement of NAIA airside capacity and  terminal improvements within the first and second year, Phase 1b involving key performance measures in the third and fourth year, and Phase 1c for building for future capacity within the fifth and sixth year.