4 groups bid to bag NAIA operations

The Philippine government’s plan to turn over the operations and maintenance of the country’s premier gateway, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), to the private sector has attracted four entities.

During the opening of bids on Wednesday, the P170.6-billion NAIA Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative received complete bid documents from four groups right before the deadline on December 27, 2023 at 10 a.m.

The firms that submitted bid are as follows:

• Manila International Airport Consortium - composed of GIP MIA PTE. Ltd., Aboitiz Infra Capital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Infracorpt Dev’t Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragion Corp., JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp.
• Asian Airport Consortium - comprised of Asian Infrastructure and Management Corp., Cosco Capital Inc., Philippine Skylanders Int’l Inc., PT Angkasa Pura II
• GMR Airports Consortium - whose members are GMR Airports International B.V., Cavitex Holdings Inc., House of Investments Inc.
• SMC-SAP & Company Consortium - made up of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics Inc., RLW Aviation Development Inc., Incheon International Airport Corp.

To recall, at least eight possible bidders have bought bid documents for the NAIA PPP project namely the Asian Airport Consortium, Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S, GMR Airports International, Manila International Airport Consortium, San Miguel Holdings Corp., Spark 888 Management, South Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corp., and Turkey’s Limak Group.

Meanwhile, the four consortia submitted technical documents to the Transportation Department’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), headed by Undersecretary Timothy John Batan.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the completeness of documentary requirements submitted by the bidders will be reviewed by the BAC and after 10 days, the bidders’ technical qualifications will be reviewed.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr), the agency in charge of the NAIA privatization project, is targeting to award the 15-year concession of the airport’s operations and maintenance to the winning bidder by the first quarter of 2024.

In August, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, chaired by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., opted to push through with plans to privatize NAIA through a solicited bid with the upfront payment cost now being studied and initially estimated at P30 billion.

The NEDA Board approved the 15-year concession period, with the option to renew for another 10 years based on a performance review.

The DOTr earlier said the bidder that offers the biggest share of their revenue from managing NAIA would win the project, with the concession agreement indicating a filed P2-billion annuity payment. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News