Airport rehab talks over if deal not reached soon
Credit to Author: LISBET K. ESMAEL| Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:25:22 +0000
DoTR sets April 30 deadline for agreement with NAIA Consortium
Talks for the rehabilitation of the Philippines’ main gateway will be called off if a deal is not reached by the end of next month, the Transportation department said on Tuesday.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told reporters that the NAIA Consortium, composed of 7 of the country’s top conglomerates, had been delaying discussions regarding its proposal to redevelop the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“Tumatagal yung usapan. Gusto kong gawan ng cap. By April 30, ‘pag hindi pa tayo nagkasundo-sundo, eh gagawin na namin itong mga proyekto (The talks have been dragging on. I want to set a cap. By April 30, if we have not come to an agreement, we will do the projects by ourselves.),” he said.
“Sinasabi nila delayed daw kami. Hindi kami ang nagde-delay. Sila ang humihingi ng extension kung kelan magmi-meeting (They say we are delayed. We are not the ones causing the delay. They are the ones calling for extensions as to when we will meet),” he added.
“Lagyan na lang ng deadline para ipakita na hindi kami ang nagde-delay (Let’s just set a deadline to show that we are not the cause of the delay).”
The NAIA Consortium is composed of AC Infrastructure Holdings, Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., Alliance Global Group, Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings, Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
It bagged original proponent status status last September for its unsolicited proposal to upgrade, operate and expand the airport over a period of 15 years. The original plan called for a 35-year concession and a project cost of P350 billion but this was later cut to 15 years and P102 billion.
Tugade claimed the government had yet to see the complete details of the proposal. Asked if they would entertain rival offers if the consortium missed the April 30 deadline, he replied “The decision will come when the situation asks for it.”
The Transportation department had favored the NAIA Consortium proposal over that of GMR-Megawide, which last year also offered to undertake the project for P155.9 billion over 18 years.
Sought for comment, NAIA Consortium spokesperson Jimbo Reverente told reporters in a text message that they would “comply with the stated deadline of Secretary Tugade.”
If a deal is reached, the proposal will still have to be cleared by the National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte. It will then be subjected to a Swiss challenge, where competing offers will be solicited and the consortium allowed to match them.
NAIA has been operating beyond capacity and Terminal 1 — the second-oldest — at one point was rated the worst airport in the world. Designed to accommodate 31 million passengers, it handled 42 million in 2017 and the figure is expected to hit 47 million by 2020 and 52 million by 2022.
Alternative gateways have been proposed, among them the P735.6-billion Bulacan International Airport being pushed by another top conglomerate, San Miguel Corp., that has already been approved by the NEDA Board.
Also on Tuesday, Transportation Undersecretary Manuel Tamayo said the terms of reference for a Swiss challenge were being finalized.
“Hopefully within the next two weeks we can publish it. Then we will give 60 days to give other groups the chance to match SMC’s proposal …,” he said.
San Miguel last year said that groundbreaking could be held sometime in 2019.
Last month, Transportation Undersecretary Ruben Reinoso said the project would be undertaken in phases, which would allow the facility to be partially operational by 2020.
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