NAIA privatization advances

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) announced that the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has moved to the next step after San Miguel Corp.-SAP & Co. Consortium submitted the highest bid for the property.

On Thursday, SMC-SAP & Co. Consortium offered to share 82.16 percent of future gross revenues, excluding passenger service charges, with the government.

This was in addition to the fixed upfront fee of P30 billion and annual fee of P2 billion, both payable to the government.

The DoTr Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee would now proceed to review and evaluate the financial proposals of the bidders.

The SAP & Co. Consortium is composed of diversified conglomerates San Miguel Holdings Corp., Rmm Asian Logistics Inc., Rlw Aviation Development Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp., the developer of the world-class South Korean air hub.

GMR Airports Consortium, which is composed of India-based GMR Airports International B.V., Cavitex Holdings Inc., and House Of Investments Inc., offered to share 33.30 percent with the government.

Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), which is composed of Gip Em Miac Pte. Ltd., Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., Ac Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Infracorp Dev’t Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Dev’t Corp., and JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp., offered to share 25.91 percent with the government.

The group of Filipino business magnate and investor Lucio Co, the Asian Airport Consortium, was disqualified from bidding for the P170.6-billion NAIA contract.

The next process is expected to be completed by February 15. A notice of award would be issued to the bidder whose financial proposal meets the requirements of the instructions to bidders and who submitted the highest bid amount.

NAIA’s privatization was considered one of the biggest aviation sector projects of the Philippine government.

Under the deal, the private concessionaire will have 15 years to operate the airport to recover its investment.

Once NAIA has been privatized, the Manila International Airport Authority will become a regulatory body.

This could result in no loss of employment for airport employees.

All NAIA assets would still belong to the government, while the private concessionaire would be limited to operations and management role.