THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) needs an urgent upgrade to cater to rapidly rising travel demand, the Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) said Friday, after doubling its unsolicited proposal to P210 billion.
MIAC, composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital, AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp, Alliance Global – Infracorp Development, Filinvest Development Corporation, JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp and Global Infrastructure Partners, earlier submitted a P100-billion bid to rehabilitate the airport.
“The construction firmly believes that NAIA needs rehabilitation and introduction of new operating procedures and new technologies as soon as possible and our unsolicited proposal is the fastest route towards providing comfortable and efficient international gateway for the passengers now, which the Filipinos deserve and now,” Aboitiz Infracapital Inc. President and CEO Cosette Canilao told ANC.
MIAC said the increase in the unsolicited proposal is based on new studies including the projected growth in demand to about 55 million passengers annually from the NAIA’s 48 million pre-pandemic level.
“There is a real need to implement these comprehensive changes the soonest time possible and our proposal is you know is based on that new studies,” she said.
The proposal’s multi-phased masterplan includes P56 billion in investments which would be immediately deployed in the first five years. It will focus on “immediately upgrading the facilities and at the same time introducing new technologies to make the airport more efficient,” Canilao said.
She said the consortium is urging the government to evaluate the unsolicited proposal. If approved, implementation may begin in the latter part of the year while improvements could be felt by next year, she added.
NAIA has been up for rehabilitation for years in a bid to decongest Manila’s main gateway. (ABS-CBN News)
