Megawide Construction Corp. said Monday it expects to bag the P109-billion rehabilitation and redevelopment contract of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by the first quarter of 2021 after submitting the financial qualifications to the National Economic and Development Authority this week.
“The last requirement of NEDA is the submission of financial requirements, so we will be submitting that within the week,” Manuel Louie Ferrer, managing director for transport of Megawide, said in a virtual briefing.
“Hopefully this gets elevated to the Cabinet Committee, after which is the Swiss Challenge. So, hopefully we can wrap up the whole thing by first quarter of next year,” he said.
NEDA earlier raised concerns over the consortium’s capability to finance the project.
Megawide chairman and chief executive Edgar Saavedra said the company had enough money to fund the NAIA project.
“The total capex [capital expenditure] is P109 billion, is a program of seven to 10 years …So, in a 10-year program, we are qualified with the combination of Megawide and GMR,” Saavedra said.
GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India, Megawide’s partner, earlier agreed to infuse a 40-percent equity in the project.
“The main issue that NEDA have raised is the financial capability because the interpretation of NEDA is they are looking at full P109-billion capex. We are only looking at phases. That was our understanding. All the precedent projects before were that way—in phases,” Saavedra said.
“But since NEDA wants us to comply with P109-billion capex, we brought in GMR to be 40-percent shareholder’s partner,” he said.
Saavedra said the consortium was in talks with lenders and investors for possible financing arrangements for the project.
“We have engaged a couple of local and international investors and a lot of the investors and leaders are very positive in supporting this fund raising exercises,” he said.
Under the updated proposal, the consortium plans to spend P109 billion under a 25-year concession period. The company will construct the project in three phases such as the improvement of airside and terminals and the connection via bus rapid transit.
They will also build a new terminal, additional taxi lanes and an elevated railway.
Megawide estimated that it could increase the terminal capacity to 72 million against the competitor’s estimate of just 65 million.
Megawide said their design solutions would increase airfield capacity to 950 to 1,000 aircraft movements per day, representing 30-percent to 35-percent increase from the current 730 aircraft movements a day.