SOUTH Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) has joined the race to bag the operations and maintenance of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
In his remarks during the 49th Philippine Business Conference and Expo in Manila on Wednesday, Bautista said, “So far, seven prospective bidders have expressed interest [in operating and maintaining] NAIA.”
Asked who the seventh prospective bidder is, Bautista said, “It’s Incheon International Airport.”
IIAC is the developer and operator of the Incheon International Airport, the largest airport in South Korea, which opened in 2001.
In September, the Department of Transportation disclosed that six groups bought bid documents, namely GMR Airports International, San Miguel Holdings Corp., Manila International Airport Consortium, Spark 888 Management, Asian Airport Consortium, and Cengiz Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S.
Bautista earlier said the winning bidder for the NAIA’s operations and maintenance would be the group that would offer the biggest share of their revenue from managing the airport to the government.
Under the draft concession agreement for the project, the winning bidder must settle an upfront payment of P30 billion to the government following the awarding of the contract, remit annually a fixed P2-billion annuity payment, and share with the government a certain percentage of their revenues.
But the DOTr chief said the “revenue sharing” offer would be the main consideration in deciding who wins the NAIA PPP project.
Prospective bidders have until Dec. 27, 2023 to submit their bids.
The winning bidder will be determined “a month after” the deadline, Bautista said.
The competitive bidding process for the potential party who will bag the contract to operate NAIA is in accordance with Republic Act 6957, as amended by Republic Act 7718, otherwise known as the Build-Operate-and-Transfer Law (BOT Law) and its Revised 2022 Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), according to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center.
The P170.6-billion NAIA PPP project will cover all facilities of the country’s main gateway, including its runways, four terminals, and associated facilities.
The project is expected to improve the overall passenger experience and increase the current annual passenger capacity of NAIA to at least 62 million from the current 32 million, as well as increase air traffic movement from 40 to 48 per hour.
The goal of the project is to address longstanding issues at NAIA, such as the inadequate capacity of passenger terminal buildings and restricted aircraft movement. (GMA Integrated News)
