6 groups vying for P108-B airport deals

President Benigno Aquino III leads the final inspection of Laguindingan Airport in Barangay San Isidro, Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental, on June 11, 2013. Six groups, including some of the country’s biggest conglomerates, have expressed interest in joining the auction for the contracts for Laguindingan, along with the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, and New Bohol air gateways under the government’s Public Private Partnership program. MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

Six groups, including some of the country’s biggest conglomerates, have expressed interest in joining the auction for the contracts for the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol air gateways under the government’s Public Private Partnership program despite a possible legal snag revealed Monday.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) pushed through with the submission Monday of pre-qualification documents even as it announced that it had received, also Monday, a temporary restraining order issued by the Davao Regional Trial Court.

The Inquirer was unable to obtain a copy of the TRO, which could have implications for the bidding of the provincial airport contracts, which have a combined value of over P108 billion.

DOTC spokesperson Michael Sagcal declined to comment on its contents, except to note that there was no legal impediment with proceeding since a bidding in Manila was beyond the jurisdiction of the Davao court and that only the Supreme Court could issue a TRO on a national infrastructure project.

Sagcal said the DOTC would nevertheless seek the opinion of the Office of the Solicitor General on the matter.

As such, it was business as usual as the DOTC examined the pre-qualification documents submitted by consortiums led by San Miguel Corp. and South Korea’s Incheon Airport; Metro Pacific Investments Corp.  with a unit of Aéroports de Paris and TAV Havalimanlari Holdings A.S; Aboitiz Equity Ventures with Vinci Airports; Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure; Filinvest Group with Japan’s Sojitz and Jatco, and Union Equities.

“We are not concerned (with the TRO) as we are confident the government is fully committed to this very important PPP,” Román Azanza III, Aboitiz first vice president for business development, said in an interview yesterday.

In separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, MPIC and AEV said they had entered into partnerships with foreign groups for the purpose of bidding for these five regional airport projects.

MPIC set up a joint venture with two foreign airport operators—Aeroports de Paris of France and TAV Havalimanlari Holdings A.S of Turkey.

AEV teamed up with Vinci Airports, which manages and operates 24 airports in France, Portugal and Cambodia. It submitted prequalification documents for the airport projects under a group called Maya Consortium.

The exercise Monday was meant to determine which groups are qualified to submit technical and financial proposals for the project. The bids are expected to be opened by January 2016 and the DOTC expects to award the project by February 2016.

The DOTC said the operations and maintenance of the regional airports, selected partly for their tourism potential, will be bid out in two bundles.