Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc. is studying the possibility of bidding for the $10-billion Sangley International airport but expressed concern it may run into a monopoly issue given that it also has an offer for another airport development.
“We are looking at the terms and modality. We are looking at the structure, we are looking at what we can and we cannot do given that we have unsolicited proposal for NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport),” said Cosette Canilao, chief operating officer of InfraCapital at the recent Aboitiz financial briefing in Makati.
Aboitiz InfraCapital is one of the members of the NAIA consortium which had offered to rehabilitate and expand the main gateway.
Aside from NAIA, Aboitiz has also submitted unsolicited proposals for three regional airports:Laguindigan, Bicol and Bohol-Panglao.
The deadline for the securing of bid for Sangley Airport is today,November 11, while the submission of bids is on November 25. Interested bidders could purchase bid documents for P10 million.
As of of Friday, November 8, five companies have bought bid documents, said Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla in a text message. He declined to identify the companies.
The provincial government of Cavite is the lead proponent and implementing agency of the project under a public-private partnership scheme. As such, it would no longer require the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority for implementation.
The selected joint venture partner will provide the equity investment and credit enhancements subject to a further competitive process or price test, perform engineering, procurement and construction services for the land and airport development components.
The Cavite government expects to award the project by end of November and start the construction by January next year. It would separately bid out the operations and maintenance of the new international airport by next year.
The first phase involves the construction of a single runway and a passenger terminal that could accommodate 20 million passengers per year.
The second phase involves the completion of four runways that will accommodate 100 million passengers per year upon completion in six years.
The airport is expected to be at par with Singapore’s Changi International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, as it is positioned to be the next biggest development in air transport innovation in the country.
