Megawide-GMR opposes change in rehab proposal of NAIA Consortium
The group of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India has expressed concern over the statement of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Consortium of their intention to tweak their proposal to upgrade the country’s main international gateway.
“An unsolicited proposal, once submitted, should be evaluated as is. We at GMRMegawide were quite alarmed to hear the statements of the NAIA Consortium about their intent to ‘tweak’ their submitted proposal for the rehabilitation of NAIA,” the group said in a statement.
GMR-Megawide said the suggested “tweaks” of the NAIA Consortium involve changing cornerstones of the proposal, doing so after submission is the same as changing its terms, the competing group argued.
“If it is the intent of the NAIA Consortium to tweak their proposal, it should be properly revised and re-submitted to the government. It also follows that this resubmitted proposal should be evaluated after the GMRMegawide proposal,” the group said.
The group is of the view that tweaking of proposals after they have been submitted and deemed complete would put into question the integrity of the process for evaluation of all unsolicited proposals.
“We encourage the NAIA Consortium to commit to the proposal they have submitted,” it said.
“It will now be up to the government to evaluate and decide which proposal best serves the needs of its people,” the group said.
Composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the NAIA Consortium submitted a P350 billion proposal covering a 35-year concession period for the upgrade of the country’s main airport to the Department of Transportation last Feb. 12.
The NAIA Consortium has tapped Changi International Airport, which currently runs the main airport in Singapore, as technical partner.
Under the NAIA Consortium’s proposal, the first phase would involve improvements and expansion of the terminals in the current NAIA land area, while the second phase would cover the development of an additional runway, taxiways, passenger terminals and associated support infrastructure.
The NAIA Consortium’s proposal also includes a people mover that would link the terminals and connect NAIA to the existing mass transport system in Metro Manila, as well as an option for a third runway.
Subsequently, NAIA Consortium spokesperson Jose Emmanuel Reverente said the group would be open to a shorter concession period for the rehabilitation of the country’s main international gateway.
“In a shorter concession scenario, we probably won’t have time to build a third runway, if the government chooses another long term solution on the issue of passenger congestion,” Reverente said.
As the NAIA Consortium was the first to submit the unsolicited proposal for the rehabilitation of the country’s main airport, Reverente said their offer would be evaluated ahead of that of GMR-Megawide’s.
Last March 1, GMR-Megawide submitted its $3 billion proposal to rehabilitate the NAIA covering an 18-year concession period.
Under GMR-Megawide’s proposal, the development is divided into three main phases with Phase 1a covering the improvement of NAIA airside capacity, as well as implementing terminal improvements within the first and second year.