THE GOVERNMENT said it will decide within the month on the project bundling of P116.23-billion worth of contracts to develop, operate and maintain six regional airports, officials said on Saturday.
Once the Transportation department releases the invitation documents and information memorandum for the deals within February, Transportation Spokesperson Michael Arthur C. Sagcal said, prospective bidders can start preparing their bids for the airport projects: the P4.57-billion New Bohol (Panglao) Airport; the P5.81-billion Puerto Princesa Airport; the P14.62-billion Laguindingan Airport; the P20.26-billion Bacolod-Silay International Airport; P30.40-billion Iloilo Airport; and the P40.57-billion Davao International Airport.
“Instructions to prospective bidders, which includes the invitation documents and information memorandum, will be issued within the month. This is to provide interested parties with the information that may be useful to them in making their bids,” Mr. Sagcal said in a text message.
“Before February ends, we’ll release the instructions to prospective bidders, detailing what packages will include what,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said in a text message on Saturday.
In an initial project information memorandum published on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center’s Web site on Dec. 23, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said that their “preference is to have two packages consisting of three airport facilities,” of each bundle having a total traffic of “at least 4.5 million passengers annually.”
The first package, according to the initial project information memorandum, will consist of Puerto Princesa, Iloilo and Bacolod airports, which have annual throughput of 4.5 million passengers, with international traffic generated by Puerto Princesa and Iloilo airports.
The second package, will include Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol (Panglao) airports, having an annual throughput of 5 million passengers annually, according to the information memorandum. International traffic for this bundle will come from Davao and New Bohol airports.
After the release of the instructions to prospective bidders, Mr. Sagcal said: “One-on-one meetings will be held in March.”
“This is where prospective bidders can voice out their concerns and discuss strategies privately,” he added.
At least four investors have expressed interest in the airport deals: Megawide Construction Corp., Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and MTD Philippines, Inc.
“We’ll look for partners on the airports. We will look at the terms once they are out,” MTD Philippines, Inc. President Isaac S. David said in January.
For his part, MPIC President Jose Ma. K. Lim said via text message in January: “We are interested. We’ll wait for the terms of the bundled airports and see if they are strategic for us.”
“Yes, we will buy bid documents and study first before we proceed. The airport PPP bundled projects is more aligned with our business already,” Megawide Construction Corp. Manuel Louie B. Ferrer also said in January.
In December, Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia told reporters that his company “will look at airport projects. We need to study first what the package consists of.”
Business World, 08 February 2015
By Chrisee Jalyssa V. Dela Paz
