Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla. INQUIRER file photo / RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — The provincial government of Cavite has canceled its negotiations with the consortium of China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC) and Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. for the redevelopment of the Sangley Airport into an international gateway.
In a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday, Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla said the Cavite provincial government’s special selection committee has recommended the “non-approval of the redevelopment of the former airbase as presented by the applying parties.”
He said the recommendation was made “due to various deficiencies of the submission of requirements to conclude the Joint Venture Agreement for the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA).”
“The recommendation was accepted and approved by my office dated January 26, 2021,” Remulla said.
“While it does cancel the negotiations, the project will restart and hopefully have a successful negotiation with any qualified partner by October 2021,” he added.
The Inquirer earlier reported that a draft document from the province’s Public-Private Partnership Selection Committee, showed there is a recommendation to terminate the Feb. 12, 2020, award to the CCCC-MarcoAsia consortium.
The committee said the consortium repeatedly failed to “fully and completely” comply with its conditions.
The award given to the consortium covers the project’s phase 1 or P208.5 billion of SPIA’s total estimated project cost of P550 billion.
Based on project documents, the phase 1 of the airport project involves the first runway and a passenger capacity of 25 million passengers per year. The SPIA, under subsequent phases, will have up to four runways and a passenger capacity of 130 million annually.
The SPIA project, aimed at decongesting Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, also involves the reclamation of about 1,500 hectares of area in Manila Bay.
Pointing at the economic benefits of having a new international airport in Cavite, Remulla previously stood by the CCCC even after its subsidiaries were included in a United States sanctions list in August 2020, for building militarized islands in the West Philippine Sea.
“I still believe that a new international airport is important for the country in the long run and it must be stressed that cancellation is not in prejudice of anyone applying again,” Remulla also said in his statement on Wednesday.