MPIC to submit proposal to build Clark airport

INFRASTRUCTURE conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) said it is interested in developing Clark International Airport, either by unsolicited proposal or public bidding under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

“We have heard that they’re preparing for a public bidding. But we’re also prepared to submit our own proposal if this public bidding does not take place,” MPIC president Jose Ma. K. Lim told reporters last Saturday.

Last week, Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp. announced that they have teamed up and have submitted an unsolicited proposal to the government to develop Clark airport. The group submitted their proposal in July 2016.

MPIC’s Lim said they have engaged the services of external consultants to assist them with their proposal.

“We’re doing [ the proposal] already. We have hired external consultants already. We’re now in the pre-feasibility study phase,” he said.

The planned Clark airport will serve as an alternative gateway to ease congestion in the main Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA).

The MPIC group is also interested in bidding for other airport projects under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, particularly the Davao and Iloilo airports.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board unbundled the five regional airports in 2016 as the government deemed it would be faster to auction individual are in Bacolod (P20.26 billion), Davao ( P40.57 billion), Iloilo (P30.40 billion), Laguindingan (P14.62 billion) and Panglao in Bohol (P4.57 billion).

Among MPIC’s completed and ongoing infrastructure projects are the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 Extension and major toll roads North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic- Clark- Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), and the Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

This year, the company has programmed capital expenditure of P79 billion across all its business segments.

Incorporated in 2006, MPIC holds businessman Manny V. Pangilinan’s investments in water utilities ( Maynilad), toll roads (MPTC and Manila North Tollways Corp.), power and electricity distribution (Beacon Electric, GBPC and Meralco), healthcare services (MPHHI), and railway, logistics and ticketing (LRMC and MetroPac Movers Inc.).