A CONSORTIUM led by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. is in talks with a global airport operator based in Europe for its potential bid for five regional airport contracts up for grabs under the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program.
Metro Pacific chair Manuel V. Pangilinan declined to name the possible European partner, but said it was a much larger player than Aeroports de Lyon, which Metro Pacific and JG Summit tapped for their unsuccessful bid for the Mactan Cebu International Airport PPP two years ago.
The government is in the process of auctioning contracts covering the operations, maintenance and expansion of the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol air gateways.
While the original plan was for these to be bid out in two separate bundles, Pangilinan said big operators were more keen on a single bundle to achieve more scale.
“The single bundle is more the preference of the foreign strategic partners that we spoke with,” Pangilinan said. “If it’s two bundles, it’s a bit small. They prefer a big bundle.”
A notice dated May 8, 2015, showed that the DOTC bids and awards committee decided to set the submission 40 days after the release of the final version of instructions to prospective bidders. It did not confirm yet the actual submission date. The DOTC had earlier set the deadline on May 18, 2015.
The DOTC is seeking private sector support to upgrade and operate the five air gateways, which have been selected for their growing tourism and business prospects.
At least five other groups have acquired bid documents for the airports. These are San Miguel Corp., Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, Philippine Skylanders and Japan’s Sojitz.