CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines ? American firm Admiral Energy LCC has passed the bidding requirements for building and operating a second terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport here and the government?s Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) will soon start negotiations with it on a joint venture, CIAC chairman Nestor Mangio said.

?We are allowed to do limited negotiations with the lone passing bidder,? Mangio said.

Admiral Energy met the eligibility, technical and financial requirements, exceeding as well the minimum investment of P6.5 billion to develop Terminal 2, said Victor Jose Luciano, CIAC president and chief executive officer.

Admiral Energy offered an investment of P12.4 billion, an upfront payment of P108 million and a minimum guaranteed annual payment of P261 million, Luciano said.

?We can say that we will have a terminal by the first quarter of 2010,? he said.

Terminal 2 is envisioned to accommodate seven million passengers a year. The current terminal?s load is one million passengers a year.

The Diosdado Macapagal International Airport was formerly the airport of the US 13th Air Force, when the US operated an airbase in Clark Field, which is now a special economic zone. The US Air Force left an airport totaling 2,500 hectares, with two 3.5-kilometer-long runways.

CIAC executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran, who chairs a joint venture selection committee, said the committee would do post-qualification evaluation of Admiral Energy in 15 days.

If Admiral Energy will fail that evaluation, CIAC can do conduct another bidding or look for a new mode of implementing the terminal project, he said.

Luciano said two other bidders ? Synergy International Resources Group Co. Ltd. and Philippine Regional Investment Development Corp. ? failed to pass the eligibility requirement.

CIAC officials earlier reported that 11 private companies had joined the pre-selection conference, held in July. Edited by INQUIRER.net