Source:  GMA News, 28 March 2012

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 (NAIA-1), built in 1981, and other airports development are among the eight  public-private partnership (PPP) projects the Aquino administration has decided to fast-track this year.

“We intend to roll out about eight of them this year but we want an accelerated program for the PPP program itself,” President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday in an open forum during the Philippine Investment Forum in Makati City.

Aquino said he instructed the Cabinet economic cluster and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) to speed up its review of  pending PPP project proposals.

“There has to be more speed in terms of giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down to all the various projects that are under consideration. We cannot afford to think of decades upon decades. We are missing the opportunities that are already extant,” he said.

NAIA at saturation levels

He said his administration is very excited that the PPP projects such as school infrastructures and road networks are generating a lot of interest.

“The airports are very, very essential. NAIA, I understand, is approaching saturation levels. There is a need to really expand our gateways and various studies are underway to determine exactly how best to achieve that,” he said.

Last year, more than 3.97 million international passengers departed from the NAIA-1, according to the Manila International Airport Authority. The 31-year-old airport also handled 3.86 million arrivals.

The airport terminal processed nearly 38,000 departure and arrival flights.

He admitted that there are limitations as to how the government can expand NAIA given the density of the population in the surrounding areas.

“But that should not stop us from having the facilities available for the tourists to come in which we believe, as I said, a very low-lying fruit that has yet to be picked,” he pointed out.

Also under review is a proposal for a nautical highway that will cut down travel time from Luzon to Mindanao from three days to about 15 hours.

“You know, one thing that I keep telling the Cabinet… why is it that produce from Mindanao, especially the seafood, hardly gets to Manila? Why should that situation exist? And this nautical highway is high up on the radar list that hopefully will be accomplished,” said Aquino.

The lone PPP project awarded thus far is the P1.96-billion, four-kilometer Daang Hari-South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) under the PPP program, bagged by the Ayala Group and its partner Genitsa of Spain last December.

A PPP project closer to Metro Manila is the P61.53 billion LRT Line 1 South Extension project that is designed to connect Baclaran—through Paranaque and Las Piñas—to Bacoor in Cavite.

This project will be funded through PPP with P30.93-billion financing from the private sector and a P30.59-billion counterpart financing from government, according to NEDA.

“I have full faith that Transportation and Communication Secretary Mar Roxas will have this extension operational at the soonest possible time. And if I haven’t ridden on it by 2015, I will be very severely disappointed. That, in a little while, we will be able to expand transportation, and open the gates a little wider between Metro Manila’s and not just Cavite but the entire Calabarzon region’s economies,” he said.

This LRT project involves the construction of eight stations with provision for two additional stations. The proposed eight stations will be at the following locations:

  • Redemptorist Station in Redemptorist St., Roxas Boulevard
  • MIA Station near the Coastal Mall in Roxas Boulevard
  • Asia World Station near Asia World Development in Roxas Boulevard
  • Ninoy Aquino Station in the east side of Ninoy Aquino Bridge that passes through Paranaque river
  • Dr. Santos Station, south of Dr. Santos Road
  • Las Piñas Station, east of Quirino Avenue and south of Las Piñas river
  • Zapote station, north of Alabang-Zapote flyover and
  • Niyog Station, south of intersection of Niyog Road bypass and Aguinaldo Highway.

The two provisional stations are Manuyo Uno and Talaba stations. Three stations—Dr. Santos, Zapote and Niyog Stations—will be designed as intermodal facilities so that passengers could easily transfer from these stations to other road-based transportation services.

As of March 12, NEDA listed these 17 PPP projects:

  • Automatic Fare Collection System for LRT lines
  • Balara Water Hub
  • CALA Expressway (Cavite and Laguna side)
  • Establishment of Cold Chain Systems Covering Strategic Areas in the Philippines
  • Grains Central Project
  • LRT Line 1 South Extension and O & M
  • LRT Line 2 East Extension and O & M
  • Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal Building
  • Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center
  • New Bohol (Panglao) Airport
  • New Centennial Water Supply Source Project
  • NLEX-SLEX Connector Road
  • Operation & Maintenance of Angat Hydro Electric Power Plant Auxilliary Turbines 4 & 5
  • Operation & Maintenance of the Laguindingan Airport
  • Operation & Maintenance of the Puerto Princesa Airport
  • PPP for School Infrastructure Project
  • Vaccine Self-Sufficiency Project Phase II

As of February, the Department of Health adopted a new strategy for early completion of studies on upgrading and modernization of the Philippine Ortophedic Center under the PPP scheme. —ELR/VS, GMA News