High expectations for NAIA rehab project

JUST days after the announcement that a San Miguelled consortium had been awarded the contract for the rehabilitation and operation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), a new survey of business travelers has ranked the Philippines’ troubled international gateway as one of the worst airports in Asia.

These kinds of surveys are always rather subjective, and perhaps should be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, the latest one is a pointed reminder to the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and its partners, as well as the government, that the general optimism and approval with which the airport deal has been met has a very short shelf life, and that significant and rapid improvements are expected.

As was reported last Friday, February 16, the consortium comprising San Miguel Holdings Corp., local partners RLW Aviation Development Inc. and RMM Asian Logistics Inc., and Korean airport operator Incheon International Airport Corp., collectively operating under the name SMC SAP & Co., won the 15-year contract to upgrade and operate NAIA, with an option for a 10-year extension.

In the wake of the bid award, most of the reactions from business leaders and politicians have been positive, and the sense is the optimism is shared by most of the public as well. The NAIA rehabilitation proposal has taken several attempts over several years to bring to life, so the optimism stems in part from relief at finally getting it done. Along with that, the common sentiment is that SMC and its partners have more than enough competence and resources to be able to carry out the estimated P170-billion project successfully.

Of course, there have been grumblings about the enterprises involved and insinuations of impropriety in the bidding and review process, as there is after any major PPP (public-private partnership) or other development contract is announced. However, the process has been carried out in a notably aboveboard manner, and there is nothing at all to suggest that any suspicions may be valid. Those airing the complaints certainly have not provided any evidence to support them, and so those complaints ought to be disregarded.

As for the new survey of airport rankings, the timing of its release seems entirely coincidental. The rankings were compiled from reviews posted to the website Airline Quality from passengers identifying themselves as business travelers, and as has been the case every time one of these airport ranking surveys is published, NAIA is regarded quite poorly. It is ranked here as the fourth-worst airport in Asia with a score of only 2.78 out of a possible 10, trailing only Kuwait, Almaty, Kazakhstan and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The poor ranking is even more embarrassing in light of the global results, where 9 of the top 10 and 15 of the top 20 airports in the world are located in Asia.

Besides the embarrassment of being noted — again — on a global stage for having a memorably bad airport, Filipinos themselves have grown weary of NAIA’s poor condition, overcrowding and bad services, and regard it with attitudes ranging from frustration to utter contempt. There is a consensus of hope that the problems will be quickly resolved and improvements made, and that passing through NAIA will soon be a more pleasant, efficient and fair value experience. We share the majority opinion in that the SMC-led consortium is certainly capable of providing that. On the other hand, the patience of the long-suffering flying public is justifiably quite short, and the onus now falls on SMC and its partners to demonstrate that the degree of faith that has been placed in them was not a mistake.

Even so, the consortium cannot do it all on its own, and the heavy expectations that are being placed on it must be shared by the government, which, after all, will profit handsomely from the concession arrangement. It should use that windfall to prioritize airport improvements that are outside the consortium’s purview, such as the chronically inefficient security and immigration processes, and upgrading transportation access to the airport.

Congratulations are in order to all concerned for finally getting this long-awaited initiative off the ground, and we are as eager as the rest of the country to see the good results. Don’t let us down.