The government is in talks with two other parties offering to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), according to Carlos Dominguez, secretary of the Department of Finance.
This was following yesterday’s announcement of the consortium of conglomerates which originally offered to upgrade the airport for P120 billion it would withdraw the proposal.
Dominguez said at the pre-State of the Nation Address virtual presser yesterday the interested parties are willing to participate in the project, at the terms that the government has indicated.
“I got a copy of the letter of the NAIA consortium saying that the current economic situation is such that they are not confident that they can finance the project, or that they cannot push it together, or push through with it,” Dominguez said.
“I understand that Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade as well as Vince Dizon, who heads the infrastructure projects, are in conversation with two more potential proponents for the NAIA project, and apparently these two other proponents are willing to get into an agreement with the government which are very similar to the terms of the agreement between the project proponents in Clark air base… in the Clark Airport and the BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority). We’re not worried about it. We believe that these other two proponents are willing to step up to the plate here,” he added.
Dominguez also said the two proponents are interested in the project at the terms government has indicated.
He did not elaborate nor identified the two other parties but earlier, Megawide Construction Corp. and its partner GMR also submitted a proposal to rehabilitate the airport for over P150 billion and a concession period of 18 years. Government rejected the offer.
“We’re not setting aside the NAIA consortium, they’re the ones who set it aside. It’s not us,” Dominguez said.
“We understand that some proponents of the PPP (public-private partnership) projects have problems raising financing under the current situation, and let’s only talk about the NAIA, we have two other proponents who are very willing to step into the shoes of the consortium,” Dominguez said.
The NAIA consortium is composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. submitted the unsolicited proposal to the government.