Clark airport terminal procurement deal signed

THE Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd. have signed the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the Clark International Airport (CIA) new terminal, the International Finance Corp. (IFC) said.

In a statement, the IFC said that the BCDA and MegawideGMR have concluded an EPC agreement for the construction of the new terminal.

The IFC, part of the World Bank Group, said it assisted in structuring the deal.

“Following the Philippine government’s hybrid publicprivate partnerships policy, IFC helped structure the transaction for the EPC contract to build a new passenger terminal that will help Clark International Airport become a world- class facility. IFC also assisted BCDA in conducting a competitive and transparent bid process that took less than six months, one of the fastest PPP mandates globally for IFC as an advisor, and resulted in significant government savings,” IFC said in a statement. The Global Infrastructure Facility ( GIF) supported project preparation.

Megawide- GMR in December won the contract to construct the new CIA passenger terminal, submitting the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion, about 25% lower than the P12.55-billion auction ceiling.

The project involves construction by 2019 of a 82,600-squaremeter terminal building designed to handle eight million passengers a year, nearly double the current 4.2 million capacity.

The project kick- started the “hybrid” mode of financing big infrastructure projects preferred by the government of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, involving use of state funds or foreign aid in the construction phase and publicprivate partnership ( PPP) for the operation and maintenance (O&M) segment.

CIA is being positioned as an alternative gateway to Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA), which accommodated over 39.5 million passengers in 2016, beyond its 30.5 million designed capacity.

Yuan Xu, IFC country manager for the Philippines, said in a statement: “This project builds on IFC’s long-standing track record in advising the Government of the Philippines in delivering crucial infrastructure. Infrastructure is key to the sustainable and inclusive economic growth of the country.”

IFC is also supporting BCDA for the second transaction under the CIA project to identify a private partner for the O&M of the airport, including both the existing and new terminals.

IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets

The GIF is an initiative of the World Bank Group and is a global platform where governments, multilateral development banks and private sector investors collaborate to develop infrastructure projects. —