P-Noy urged to proceed with reg’l airports bidding

Groups pre-qualified to bid for the regional airports project under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme have called on the government to hold the bidding for the deal before the end of President Aquino’s term, citing their readiness to submit offers.

“We are prepared to immediately, upon being given a date for bid submission, to put in our bid for the five regional airports,” Karim Garcia, vice president for business development at Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), which is part of the Philippine Airports Consortium, told reporters.

He said the consortium composed of MPIC and Aeroports de Paris is of the view the bid submission date for the project should be set on May 6, at the latest, as leaving it to the next administration may mean delays and uncertainties for the project.

“We’ve invested considerable time, effort and money working on this, and we’d prefer to have the bid done within this administration rather than have a potential delay and we don’t know how long that delay is going to be,” he said.

For his part, Roman Azanza, first vice president for business development at Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., which is part of the Maya Consortium, told reporters it would be better for the government to bid out the regional airports PPP project within the current administration as bidders are ready.

“I think most bidders would have geared up for now and are ready for that opportunity. It is important it pushes through,” he said.

Earlier, Megawide Construction Corp. corporate information officer Louie Ferrer said the GMR-Megawide Consortium would also want the bid submission for the deal to take place within the current administration as it may take a long time before the next administration could conduct the procurement for the project.

PPP Center executive director Andre Palacios said the government intends to push through with the bid submissions for the project within the month.

“Bidders are ready. The project is long overdue and urgently needed,” he said.

Apart from the Philippine Airports Consortium, Maya Consortium and GMR-Megawide Consortium, other groups pre-qualified to bid for the project are San Miguel Holdings Corp.-Incheon International Airport Corp. Consortium and FilinvestJATCO-Sojitz Consortium.

A specific date for the submission of bids for the project has yet to be set.

Submission of proposals for the project was initially set on Feb. 29, and then moved to March 28, and deferred again to a maximum of 30 days from the date when all final clearances and approvals are secured from concerned government agencies.

The regional airports project covers the upgrade of a total of five airports under two bundles with the first bundle composed of the P20.26 billion Bacolod- Silay Airport and P30.40 billion Iloilo Airport.

Bundle 2 meanwhile, consists of the P2.34 billion New Bohol (Panglao) Airport; the P40.57 billion Davao Airport; and P14.62 billion Laguindingan Airport.

Under the deal, the winning bidder for each bundle will operate and maintain the airports for 30 years.

Apart from operations and maintenance, the winning bidder will likewise be responsible for undertaking work to expand the airports’ facilities.