Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the entire development process for the NAIA Rehabilitation Project, a Public-Private Partnership effort, only took them 12 months.
Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the entire development process for the NAIA Rehabilitation Project, a Public-Private Partnership effort, only took them 12 months.
“This process is one of the fastest – if not the fastest – solicited PPP projects of the Philippine government,” Batan said during a press briefing following the release of Notice of Award to the SMC-led Consortium.
The government action on the rehabilitation of NAIA began in February last year when the government signed a “transaction advisory services agreement” with the Asian Development Bank – followed thereafter by the National Economic and Development Authority’s approval of requirements, including that of the feasibility studies.
The invitation to bid for the rehabilitation of the country’s main international gateway formally started in August 2023.
Sealed in 90 Days
“We really worked hard to see to it that these are implemented the fastest possible time because we think that this is a very important project,” Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
After the issuance of the Notice of Award, the contract signing for the big-ticket infrastructure project is scheduled for next month, Bautista added.
Aside from Asian Airport Consortium, SMC SAP & Co. Consortium beat the GMR Consortium, and the Manila International Airport Consortium in the bidding.The winning Consortium is composed of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics Inc., RLW Aviation Development Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto described the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Board’s recent approval to award a contract to SMC SAP & Co. Consortium for the NAIA rehabilitation as ‘long overdue.’
NAIA rehabilitation is the largest solicited PPP project since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the Presidency in June 2022.
“This is certainly a welcome development for this long overdue project. NAIA has been operating beyond capacity for nine years, leading to poor service and passenger inconvenience. The NAIA PPP project has been in the works for three decades, spanning six administrations. It has finally turned into a reality under the Marcos Jr. administration,” Recto said.
Tall Order for SMC
With an estimated project cost of P170.6 billion, SMC SAP & Co. Consortium faces a humongous task of rehabilitating, operating, optimizing, and maintaining NAIA, which includes improvements to its runways, four terminals, and other facilities.
Other challenges facing SMC SAP & Co. Consortium included the problem of under capacity, congestion, and underinvestment in the country’s main gateway.
The project, approved by the NEDA Board on July 19, 2023, was evaluated in a record-breaking six weeks.
Interestingly, the last major expansion of NAIA which took place 10 years ago gave more room to NAIA and saw its Terminal 3 capacity breach 36.7 million passengers in 2015.
DOTr is expecting to further upsize the number of passengers to a whopping 62 million per annum with an expanded air traffic movements per hour from 40 to 48 embarking on an internationally benchmarked Minimum Performance Standards and Specifications.
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