Gov’t readies details of regional airports PPP

The Department of Transportation would soon provide bidders with the final details of a public-private partnership (PPP) deal aimed at modernizing and expanding five provincial airports, a government official said.

Roberto Lim, the department’s undersecretary for aviation, said a bid memorandum could be issued in the next two weeks outlining the government’s intention to proceed with the auction before the end of the year. He said the awarding would likely occur in 2017.

The PPP deal involves the operations, maintenance and development of the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol air gateways. The projects have a combined value of P108 billion.

This PPP was considered among those most “ripe” for auction in the final months of the Aquino administration. However, the final bid submission did not proceed due to its timing so close to the May 2016 polls.

The DOTr said the original bid terms would be maintained, including a bid premium parameter. Under this parameter, a qualified company or consortium that offers the government the biggest amount of money wins the project.

Recently, the Duterte administration signaled that it was inclined to do away with bid premiums and instead encourage companies to compete for PPP deals by offering the lowest fees to consumers.

Several consortia have already been prequalified for the PPP project. These are Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which partnered with Aéroports de Paris and TAV Havalimanlari Holdings AS; San Miguel Corp. and South Korea’s Incheon Airport; Aboitiz Equity Ventures with VINCI Airports; Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, and the Filinvest Group with Japan’s Sojitz and Jatco.