MANILA, Philippines — Eight firms led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and San Miguel Holdings Corp. have purchased bid documents for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the Clark International Airport in Pampanga, according to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
Other companies which purchased bid documents are Megawide-GMR Consortium, Filinvest Development Corp., Prime Assets Venture, Central Luzon Infrastructure Consultancy Inc. Consortium, GVK Airport Developers Ltd. and Groupe ADP.
Other firms which have not bought bid documents but expressed interest in the project by having representatives attend the pre-bid conference held yesterday are Zurich Airport, Sojitz Philippines Corp., Deloitte, VCorp Holdings, Udenna Corp., Malaysia Airports, Ayesa Engineering, Clarkfield Aviation Services, Mitsubishi Corp., Macquarie, JG Summit Holdings Inc., Halder and Associates, PAL Express, Samsung, Aboitiz InfraCapital, PSI Air, AirAsia, Evercon Builders, Miescor Logistics Inc., Century Properties, and AviAlliance.
The project would involve a 25-year concession to operate Clark airport’s existing terminal building, as well as the new terminal building to be built by the group of Megawide-GMR which bagged the engineering, procurement, and construction contract in December last year.
To qualify to bid for the Clark airport’s O&M, prospective bidders must meet all financial, legal, and technical qualification requirements.
Prospective bidders must have a minimum net worth of P5 billion based on audited financial statements not later than Dec.31, 2017, and provide proof it can raise loans of at least P10 billion.
As for the legal qualifications, prospective bidders must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or foreign equivalent; have ownership of at least 60 percent of shares by persons organized under the law of the Philippines; and must not have any stake in any facility operator within the main island of Luzon, or must not hold whether direct or indirect majority equity interest in a concession holder of an international airport in the country.
Asked if Megawide, which is part of the consortium handling the operations of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, is excluded from participating in the bidding based on the legal qualification that a prospective bidder must not have a majority equity interest in an international airport in the country, Joshua Bingcang, senior vice president for business development and operations at the BCDA, said the government is ready to listen to the position of proponents with concerns on that requirement.
“Our interest is to get the best partner and we want competition as well. But if there are proponents who can provide us their position on why the government should reconsider this, then we are open to hearing it,” he said.
When asked if the Clark Airport would be competing with the Bulacan Airport proposed by San Miguel Corp., Bingcang said both airports, once realized, would have their respective catchment areas.
Bid submission for the project is on July 20, to be followed by post-qualification on Aug.7, while the target date for the award of the O&M contract is on Aug. 30.
The Clark International Airport, which is being positioned to be the next major gateway in the country, is the first hybrid infrastructure project under the Duterte administration.