Megawide-GMR...

be completed in one to two years, will improve NAIA airside capacity and improve the terminals. Phase 1B will cover three to four years and Phase 1C will build future capacity.

Megawide-GMR will initiate capacity enhancement of the airside infrastructure, which includes but is not limited to the construction of full-length parallel taxiways for both runways, construction of additional rapid-exit taxiways for the primary runway, extension of the secondary runway and provision of the maximum number of aircraft stands.

“Megawide-GMR believes these solutions will increase airfield capacity to 950 to 1000 aircraft movements per day, a 30 to 35 percent increase from the current approximate of 730 aircraft movements per day. For peak hours, the consortium will increase NAIA’s peak hour aircraft handling capacity by 50 percent, from 40 to 60,” Ferrer said.

Within 24 months of taking over operations, the consortium will also rehabilitate and expand the existing terminals, which will roughly double the space and result in over 700,000 sq. m. of terminal area.

Andrew Harrison, an authorized consortium representative, said the detailed masterplan takes into account all possible constraints in transforming a fully opera- tional brownfield airport.

On building a third runway, the consortium said operational challenges associated with having an additional runway make this solution unviable.

“A dependent runway would only add marginal capacity increase. In order to deliver real value, any runway consideration would have to be for an independent runway. This is in order for the additional runway to deliver the full capacity of a stand-alone runway. Given the land constraints surrounding NAIA, any additional runway would have to be built on reclaimed land in the Manila Bay,” the consortium said.

Ferrer said the 18-year concession period is unprecedented in airport PPP projects of this size across the world.

Under its proposal, Megawide-GMR seeks to pay the government annual concession fees, which entails a revenue share with a guaranteed minimum revenue component. There will also be no subsidy, equity or guarantee from the government or any concerned entity such as the Department of Transportation.

The consortium has tapped Mitre Corp., an American authority on research and development, whose work supports the American Federal Aviation Administration as technical partner.