DOTC seeks bids for 6 airport deals

The Department of Transportation and Communications is formally inviting bidders to participate in the auction of six provincial airport projects this February, with the actual bid submission expected by October this year, in line with a broader goal to modernize airport facilities outside Metro Manila.

The public private partnership initiative involves “bundled” airport projects in Bacolod-Silay, Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan, New Bohol (Panglao) and Puerto Princesa. The airport deals have a combined development value of about P116 billion.

The final PPP structure will likely involve two bundles with three airports each, the department said.

This auction comes ahead of securing government approvals for what could be its biggest airport PPP, the operations and maintenance contract for Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), expected in the second quarter of 2015.

The DOTC said in a presentation during an aviation seminar last week that the publication for the invitation to prequalify for the six provincial airports was set by end-February.

It is set to request interested participants to submit their qualification documents by April this year, the presentation showed.

Since the bid submission date is in October, the DOTC indicated that it could award the airport deals by November 2015 and sign the concession agreement, which runs 30 years, by December.

Should this timeline be followed strictly, the government would have finished the auction of its second major airport PPP in as many years.

In 2014, it awarded the P17.5-billion contract to expand and operate the Mactan-Cebu International Airport to a consortium led by Filipino company Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure.

The largest capital spending requirement is being allotted for the Davao International Airport, the country’s third-busiest after Manila’s Naia and Mactan-Cebu.

The DOTC said Davao Airport, which handled 2.76 million passengers in 2013, would require a total development cost of P40.57 billion given its high tourism potential. Significant spending should also be allotted for Iloilo (P30.4 billion) and Bacolod (P20.3 billion).

As noted, the DOTC is studying the privatization of the O&M and possible expansion of Naia. The department is targeting to present the Naia public private partnership deal to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination Committee by the second quarter of the year.

The DOTC is also expanding the Clark International Airport in Pampanga. It plans to present to the Neda-ICC its plan to build a new low-cost carrier terminal within the present quarter, the department’s presentation showed.