Marcos sees signing of PPP deal for Naia’s rehabilitation

FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. witnesses the signing of the public-private partnership or PPP agreement to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday witnessed the signing of the public-private partnership (PPP) agreement for the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

The signing ceremony was held at the Malacañan Palace with government officials like Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri,  Speaker Martin Romualdez, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, and Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Eric Jose Ines; and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president Ramon S. Ang in attendance.

In a speech, Marcos said: “The reputation of this airport has been shredded, and let’s be frank about it, not by bad press but by its actual poor state.”

“It requires a major overhaul.”

The SMC consortium won the bid to rehabilitate the country’s main international gateway. The project costs P170.6 billion, and the winning bidder proposed a revenue share of 82.16 percent with the government.

It beat the bids from GMR Airports Consortium (33.3 percent) and Manila International Airport Consortium (25.91 percent). The Asian Airport Consortium was disqualified for failing to meet all the project’s terms of reference.

According to Marcos, this is the fastest-ever approved PPP proposal in the country’s history.

“But we did not sacrifice scrutiny for speed,” he said. “It was fast, but it was also fastidiously examined at every step of the way.”

Earlier, Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan pointed out that this PPP’s entire project development process only took about 12 months.

The Naia upgrade project includes rehabilitating passenger terminals and airside facilities such as runway, aircraft parking area, and airfield lighting, as well as providing facilities that will enable intermodal transfers at airport terminals.

Bautista previously told reporters at a press conference in Pasay City that the government was expecting the San Miguel-led consortium to be able to upgrade passenger experience by 2025.

The concession period for the SMC-led group is 15 years, which can be extended by another 10 years, depending on the results of a performance evaluation during the eighth year.