Tugade lauds NAIA plan, presses Sangley proponents

MANILA, Philippines — Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade has lauded the efforts of the seven conglomerates involved in the proposal to rehabilitate and expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) that will now enable the project to move forward more than a year after it was pitched.

Tugade in an interview yesterday told The STAR that while his ultimatum helped pave the way for negotiations to be finalized, the consortium’s “good faith, trust and understanding to the affairs of the government” made it move forward.

“Because if there was no confidence and no trust, they can play hardball with us. But they did not, because they believe in President Duterte and in the policies of this government that is why they submitted a new proposal,” he said.

The DOTr has accepted the revised proposal of the consortium, which earlier vowed to comply with the April 30 deadline set by Tugade to finalize the proposal.

Tugade declined to give details on the changes made on the group’s offer, but said “the original proposal has changed substantially and has complied to my observation with the Clark template.”

“Because of that, we are now ready to make final presentation to the NEDA-ICC. My target is to have this completed within 90 days,” he said.

The NAIA consortium, composed of some of the country’s biggest conglomerates which are 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., plans to invest 102 billion plan to rehabilitate, upgrade, expand, operate, and maintain the aging NAIA.

The proposal involves expanding and interconnecting the existing terminals of NAIA, upgrading airside facilities, developing commercial facilities to increase airline and airport efficiencies, enhancing passenger comfort and experience, and elevating the status of NAIA as the country’s premier international gateway.

Tugade said the clock is also ticking for the Cavite provincial government’s proposal for the development of Sangley airport in Cavite.

“Definitely there will be a deadline on that. I will announce that in due time,” Tugade said.

“I want to challenge people to fast track actions and activity without sacrificing the quality of the project, the reasonable budget that has been approved, and the timeline that has been agreed upon,” he said.