Naia improvements to continue pending redevelopment–miaa
IMPROVEMENTS in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) will still push through despite the delayed major redevelopment project of the facility, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) said on Monday.
“The rehabilitation and other things which needs to be fixed in the airport will continue since there is still no signing [on the new contract for the project],” Miaa General Manager Eddie V. Monreal said in an online press briefing.
He made the assurance after the Miaa revoked the original proponent status of the Naia Consortium, a group of six of the country’s largest companies, to upgrade the airport.
This after the government refused the consortium’s revised P102-billion proposal for the project, citing the effects of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
The Naia Consortium comprises Aboitiz Infracapital Inc.; AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Alliance Global Group Inc.; Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; and JG Summit Holdings Inc.
Possible option
LAST week, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Transportation (DOTR) said there are now two other unnamed business groups which are interested in taking over the project.
Monreal said he is still not aware of the two groups, but he noted that another option is to revisit the second applicant when the government started accepting unsolicited proposals for the Naia redevelopment in 2018.
“If they will accept the approved [terms] of the ICC-NEDA [Investment Coordination Committee-national Economic and Development Authority], we might proceed to the second group,” Monreal said.
“But this is not final and it still needs to be discussed and to fix the guidelines like what was previously approved [for the Naia Consortium],” he stressed.
Aside from the Naia Consortium, Megawide Construction Corp. and its partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd. also submitted their own version of the project to Neda for consideration. Samuel P. Medenilla