Lopez firm eyes airport deals

The Lopez Group’s First Philippine Holdings Corp. may bid for the provincial airports that the government will put on the auction block under its public-private partnership (PPP) program, a company official said.

First Holdings, which made an unsuccessful bid for the P17.5-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport PPP, was still keen on participating in the Aquino administration’s keystone infrastructure program, said Elpidio Ibañez, First Holdings president and CEO.

He said First Holdings was especially interested in airports and “would take a look at” provincial airport deals to be rolled out this year by the Transportation department.

The Mactan-Cebu airport, which drew as many as seven bidders including San Miguel Corp. and Henry Sy’s SM Group, was eventually awarded to the tandem of Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, which offered the highest bid.

PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao told reporters that the provincial airport deals are for the Laguindingan, Panglao (Bohol), Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Davao and Bacolod facilities.

These air gateways are smaller in terms of capacity compared to the almost seven million passengers the Mactan-Cebu airport handles alone each year. Thus, the provincial airport deals will be “bundled” to provide more scale and draw bigger players, Canilao said.

The deals will be a combination of operations and maintenance contracts with expansion components, depending on the need. The goal is to speed up the development of infrastructure while helping the Aquino administration hit its aggressive goal of 10 million foreign visitors by 2016.

Canilao said they would then seek the approval of the National Economic Development Authority for the airport deals so that the projects could be auctioned off this year.

Other groups that have reportedly expressed their interest in the deals are the Gokongewei group’s JG Summit Holdings, Metro Pacific Investments, Aboitiz Equity Ventures and San Miguel.

Also, the Transportation department recently approved the proposal to hire consultants to study the privatization of operations and maintenance of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s busiest airport.