NAIA upgrade winning bidder seen taking over by September
THE GOVERNMENT is on schedule with the timetable of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) upgrade project, the Transportation Secretary said, adding that he expects the winning bidder to take over operations and maintenance of the airport by September.
“We are looking at maybe three to six months; that is the target. I want the (actual take over) to be done not later than six months after the award,” Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista told reporters.
The opening of technical proposals for the project is scheduled for Jan. 15, Mr. Bautista said, adding that the opening of financial proposals of qualified bids is set for Feb. 7.
“The announcement of results of financial evaluation is on Feb. 14; the issue of notice of award will be on Feb. 15,” Mr. Bautista said, adding that the signing of the concession agreement is set for March 15.
Four groups have submitted bids for the P170.6-billion publicprivate partnership project to upgrade NAIA.
These groups are Manila International Airport Consortium, Asia Airport Consortium, GMR Airports Consortium, and SMC SAP and Co. Consortium.
Mr. Bautista said that the group with the proposal to remit the most revenue will win the contract for the rehabilitation and maintenance of NAIA.
“The most important, which will be the basis for the award, is the amount they will remit to the government,” he said.
Mr. Bautista added that aside from the revenue share, the Department of Transportation will also assess the bidder’s technical proposal.
According to the concession agreement, the winning bidder is required to pay about P30 billion upfront and P2 billion a year, plus a share of revenue.
The NAIA contract will initially cover 15 years, but can be extended by another 10 years. This will be under a rehabilitate-operateexpand-transfer arrangement, as provided for under the BuildOperate-and-Transfer law.
The project aims to increase the current annual passenger capacity of the NAIA to at least 62 million from the current 35 million. —