San Miguel-led consortium to operate, upgrade NAIA — DoTr

A group led by San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has won the P170.6-billion contract to operate, maintain, and upgrade the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said on Friday.

“Today, we are pleased to announce that we will award this project to the SMC-SAP group. The PBAC has just completed the evaluation and made the recommendation approved by the board of MIAA [Manila International Airport Authority],” Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said during a briefing.

To recall, the number of qualified bidders was reduced to three groups from the previous four consortia.

The SMC SAP & Co. Consortium, consisting of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics, Inc., RLW Aviation Development, Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp., has proposed allocating 82.1% of NAIA revenues to the government.

The Ramon S. Ang-led SMC is also constructing an international airport in Bulacan.

In comparison, the two other qualified bidders, GMR Airports Consortium and Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC), have proposed revenue shares of 33.3% and 25.9%, respectively.

The GMR Airports Consortium is composed of GMR Airports International B.V., Virata-led Cavitex Holdings, Inc., and Yuchengco-led House of Investments, Inc.

The MIAC consortium is composed of companies owned by the country’s tycoons, namely, Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., Ayala-led AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Andrew L. Tan’s Alliance Global Infracorp Development, Inc., Lucio Tan’s Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Gotianuns’ Filinvest Development Corp., Gokongwei-led JG Summit Infrastructure Holdings Corp., and GIP EM MIAC Pte., Ltd.

The signing of the concession agreement is scheduled for March 15, with the winning bidder expected to take over by September.

Aside from the revenue share, the winning bidder is also required to pay an upfront payment of P30 billion and P2 billion annually, according to the DoTr.

“The project is expected to improve passenger experience at the airport, achieve more efficient operations, and expand airport capacity,” the department said in a statement. — Ashley Erika O. Jose