NAIA ops, maintenance now open for private bidders

The operations and maintenance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is now open for bidding, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said.

In an advisory, the DOTr and MIAA, the implementing agencies for the privatization of NAIA’s operations, invited interested firms to qualify and bid for the contract to rehabilitate, operate, optimize and maintain the country’s main gateway through a Rehabilitate-Operate-Expand-Transfer arrangement.

The competitive bidding process for the potential party who will bag the contract to operate NAIA is in accordance with Republic Act No. 6957, as amended by Republic Act No. 7718, otherwise known as the Build-Operate-and-Transfer Law (BOT Law) and its Revised 2022 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), according to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center.

Last month, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., approved the DOTr and MIAA’s joint proposal to privatize the operations of the country’s main gateway through a solicited mode.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier said the winning bidder for the NAIA privatization plan could be known by December as the agency aims to open the bidding in August.

“The bidding is open to all interested foreign and local parties, subject to the conditions for qualification under the law,” the PPP Center said in a separate advisory.

Meanwhile, the Instructions to Bidders (ITB) is already publicly available on the DOTr, MIAA, and the PPP Center (PPPC) websites.

The DOTr said the P170.6-billion NAIA PPP Project will cover all facilities of the country's main gateway, including its runways, four terminals, and associated facilities.

The project is expected to improve overall passenger experience and increase the current annual passenger capacity of NAIA to at least 62 million from the current 32 million.—AOL, GMA Integrated News