San Miguel Corporation (SMC), a major Philippine conglomerate, has led a consortium to victory in the P170.6 billion bidding process to rehabilitate and operate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The announcement was made by Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista on Friday, February 16.
In a ceremony that was live-streamed via the DOTr’s Facebook page, Bautista declared,
Today, we are pleased to announce that we will award this project to the winning bidder, the SMC-SAP group.
The SMC-SAP & Co. Consortium, which comprises San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics, Inc., RLW Aviation Development, Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp, offered the highest revenue share of 82.16 percent to the government.
The DOTr highlighted that the highest revenue share for the government was the primary deciding factor in selecting the winning bid.
SMC’s offer significantly outperformed those of its rivals, the GMR Airports Consortium and the Manila International Airport Consortium, which offered 33.3 percent and 25.91 percent shares, respectively.
The Notice of Award was sent to SMC on the same day, and the contract signing for the big-ticket infrastructure project is scheduled for next month.
SMC-SAP will now serve as the operator of the NAIA for the next 15 years, with a possible extension of 10 years.
In a press briefing, Bautista said:
The privatization of the operations and maintenance of NAIA was conceptualized as early as 30 years ago when the government of then-president Fidel Ramos started the privatization of Terminal 3. Unfortunately, it ended up in court, and in early 2000, it was taken over by the government. So, 30 years in the making, now we will be able to privatize the operations and maintenance of the Manila International Airport.
The 15-year NAIA Public-Private Partnership concession agreement mandates SMC-SAP to rehabilitate terminals, develop commercial assets, improve surface access, provide inter-terminal connections, link to the Metro Manila Subway, and enhance the airport’s climate resilience.
Moreover, the new operator is also tasked to modernize the airport’s Communications, Navigation & Surveillance (CNS) systems, remote digital tower systems, air traffic control, airfield network, and emergency equipment.
Consequently, the improvements at NAIA should enable the airport to accommodate 62 million passengers annually, up from the current capacity of 35 million.
NAIA should also be able to handle 48 aircraft movements per hour at its peak.
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