Cut-price bid lobbed for Manila airport

The proposal throws down the gauntlet to a group behind a US$6.7 billion bid. That group includes billionaires John Gokongwei and Lucio Tan.
Consortium representatives said yesterday that the proposal – which was based on an 18-year concession – was aligned with the government’s strategy to develop a sustainable multi-airport system in the Philippines.
The GMR Megawide consortium believes that its solution will increase airfield capacity to 950 to 1,000 aircraft movements per day, a 30-35 per cent increase from the current estimate of 730 aircraft movements daily.
For peak hours, the consortium pitches to increase NAIA’s aircraft handling capacity by 50 per cent, from 40 to 60.
Within 24 months of taking over operations, the consortium also plans to rehabilitate and expand the existing terminals, which will roughly double the space and result in over 700,000 square metres of terminal area. Once completed, both the airside facilities and the terminals shall be able to handle a total annual throughput of 72 million passengers.
“As an experienced private operator, we have a deep understanding of the problem experienced by NAIA and we would like to offer our take on the solution,” said Louie Ferrer, one of the consortium’s authorised representatives. “Our team has transformed Delhi International Airport, previously one of the world’s worst airports, into one that is consistently named among top five best airports of the world.
“We have also transformed Mactan-Cebu International Airport, one of the Philippines’ previously overlooked airports, into the 2016 Best Regional Airport in Asia Pacific. We hope to contribute our knowledge from these projects to the development of our country’s main gateway.”
The GMR Megawide consortium is also the operator of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
“It is vital to immediately decongest NAIA and maximise its potential in order to sustainably support the air traffic needs of the greater capital region,” Ferrer said. “A solution is urgently needed, which we in the private sector are willing to support and provide.”
The “alternative” proposal was submitted around two weeks after seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates submitted a rival 350-billion peso unsolicited proposal to upgrade NAIA.
Aboitiz InfraCapital, the Ayala family’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp, Andrew Tan-led Alliance Global Group Inc, Lucio Tan-led Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Gotianun-led Filinvest Development Corp., Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc, and Metro Pacific Investments Corp formed the NAIA consortium. They vowed to transform NAIA into a “world-class” regional aviation hub comparable to the airports of Singapore and Thailand.
Working in partnership with Changi Airport of Singapore, the NAIA “super-consortium” is seeking a 35-year operating concession in exchange for the upgrading of NAIA’s airside, landside and air navigation support. The immediate goal is to double the capacity of the highly congested NAIA to 65 million passengers annually in 48 months or the first phase of the project.