The Department of Transportation (DOTr) rejected the request of a prospective bidder to raise the equity cap for airline-related entities participating in the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The bids and awards committee of the DOTr said the proposed increase in the equity limit for airline-related entities of up to 50 percent “is not acceptable.”
The DOTr already restricts airline-related entities in the consortium from owning more than 20 percent.
It also denied the request of the prospective bidder to remove Clark International Airport from the definition of Greater Capital Region (GCR) entity.
The agency said, however, that “after due deliberation, the participation restriction of 20 percent for GCR entity is increased to 33 percent.”
Under the NAIA bid documents, a company that operates a GCR airport—which includes the airports in Clark, Bulacan and Cavite – is restricted to own only 20 percent of the consortium.
The DOTr said that as of Sep. 20, six groups—San Miguel Corp., India’s GMR Group, Manila International Airport Consortium, Spark 888 Management Inc, Asian Airport Consortium and Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.—bought bid documents for the privation of NAIA.
The bid submission was set on Dec. 27, 2023. The DOTr expects to award the contract by January 2024.
he DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) serve as co-grantors for the project, which would have a 15-year concession and an option for a 10-year extension.
The NAIA project entails capital investment to improve the airport’s facilities in order to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and other internationally-accepted standards.
This means modernizing the terminals, optimizing and enhancing the capacity of the airport to 62 million passengers per annum, enhancing asset quality and passenger experience, improving the information and technology systems infrastructure and ensuring reliable operations over the period of the concession.
The concessionaire will be responsible for both landside and airside operations of the NAIA. It will be required to undertake works to enhance the compliance, safety and security of the airport, optimize and boost airport capacity to cater to the increasing air traffic, in accordance with objective parameters to be provided in detail in the concession agreement.