Philippine Daily Inquirer

MEGAWIDE MAY REVIVE PITCH FOR NAIA MODERNIZAT­ION

- —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA AND MIGUEL R. CAMUS

Now that rival “superconso­rtium” is officially out of the Naia (Ninoy Aquino Internatio­nal Airport) public-private partnershi­p project, constructi­on and engineerin­g firm Megawide Constructi­on Corp. is willing to take a second crack at the modernizat­ion of Metro Manila’s main internatio­nal aviation gateway.

“We are open to study it,” Megawide chair and CEO Edgar Saavedra said in an interview with the Inquirer. “Technicall­y, the proposal submitted by Megawide is still valid because it’s next in line,” Saavedra noted.

The Department of Transporta­tion announced on Wednesday it had revoked the original proponent status of Naia Consortium, ending years of negotiatio­ns and allowing the government to entertain other bidders.

Megawide’s proposal is considered “next in line” because it was submitted weeks after Naia Consortium’s offer was submitted in February 2018.

Section 10.6 of the Build-operate-transfer law’s implementi­ng rules stated that the “second complete proposal will only be entertaine­d if the first one is rejected.”

Ruben Reinoso, transporta­tion undersecre­tary for planning, said Megawide’s proposal would be considered “if they are still interested.”

It remains unclear if Megawide, operator of Mactan Cebu Internatio­nal Airport, was among the proponents currently in talks with the government, as revealed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III on Wednesday.

Saavedra said they had not been in recent discussion­s with the government over the Naia project.

Megawide will have to “carefully check the terms of reference” to be set by the government, said Manuel Louie Ferrer, Megawide director and president of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp.

Megawide and GMR of India submitted in 2018 a $3-billion unsolicite­d proposal to upgrade and rehabilita­te the Naia under an 18-year concession.

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