DOTr, MIAA submit PPP proposal for NAIA upgrade

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on Friday submitted a joint proposal to improve the services and increase the capacity of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The proposal is for the NAIA solicited Public Private Partnership (PPP) project that will be subject for approval by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) board.

In a press statement, the DOTr said the project aims to increase the capacity of NAIA and ensure safe operations "while significantly improving the passenger experience at the airport through shorter waiting and processing times, more comfortable and modern facilities, and better connectivity between terminals."

DOTr and MIAA said the government needs a private concessionaire to invest in modern air traffic control equipment, rehabilitate runways and taxiways, and improve existing terminal facilities.

"The private concessionaire will have 15 years to operate the airport and recover its investment - a period meant to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to meet growing demand in the Greater Capital Region while new airports elsewhere in the region are still at various stages of development and planning," the statement read.

DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista pointed out how private companies developed Cebu and Clark airports to improve airport services to Filipino travelers and visitors.

"With this project, it is our goal that travelers to and from Manila, our country's main international gateway, also benefit from the improvements in efficiency and service that world-class airport operators and investors can bring," he said.

The solicited and unsolicited modes are the strategies being undertaken by DOTr and MIAA with the assistance of their transaction advisor, the Asian Development Bank.

In April 2023, six Filipino conglomerates and US-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) formed the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) and submitted an unsolicited proposal valued at over P100 billion to upgrade NAIA.

The six conglomerates which joined forces with GIP are Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Asia's Emerging Dragon Corporation, Alliance Global-Infracorp Development, Inc., Filinvest Development Corporation, and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corporation.

The MIAC forecasts that the NAIA will have the ability to serve up to 62.5 million passengers per annum efficiently by 2028—more than double than its currently constrained design capacity, which stands at only 31 million passengers per annum.—LDF, GMA Integrated News