Udenna not keen on NAIA, Bulacan airport bids, keeps focus on regions

MANILA, Philippines — Dennis Uy’s Udenna Group, which has been aggressive in pursuing airport projects, is not interested in submitting bids to challenge San Miguel Corp. and a group of conglomerates for their respective airport proposals as it wants to prioritize its own regional gateway offers.

“Udenna Group is presently focused in moving forward our unsolicited proposals for three regional airports,” Udenna spokesperson Adel Tamano told The STAR.

Tamano was referring to unsolicited offers by the group for the expansion, operations, and maintenance of the Davao International Airport, Bacolod-Silay Airport, and the Busuanga Airport in Palawan.

Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. in October last year secured an original proponent status (OPS) from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for its P49-billion unsolicited proposal for the Davao International Airport, while offers for the Bacolod-Silay and Busuanga airports from Udenna Infrastructure Corp. await approval from the board of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.

“The NAIA and Bulacan airports are not among those that we have submitted a proposal for,” Tamano said.

“Our proposals for developing airports is in support of the President in his Build Build Build initiative and in order to further strengthen the Philippine economy by providing investment and job opportunities,” he said.

The Swiss Challenge process for the New Manila International Airport Project that will rise in the province of Bulacan is ongoing, with the opening of bids set on July 31.

Conglomerate San Miguel has been given the OPS by the DOTr for its unsolicited proposal for the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the P754 billion project.

Having the OPS gives San Miguel the right to match a bid proposal better than the one it has submitted, should there be any.

Meanwhile, the P102 billion plan of a super consortium to rehabilitate, upgrade, expand, operate, and maintain the aging NAIA for 15 years is also expected to enter the Swiss Challenge process soon.

The NAIA consortium, composed of some of the country’s biggest conglomerates, (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.), has been granted the OPS for its unsolicited proposal.