Tycoons may yet see rival in Megawide-GMR in race for Naia expansion

The operator of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) may submit a bid to challenge the group of tycoons seeking to upgrade and operate Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), considered the crown jewel of Philippine airports.

This comes as the P102-billion proposal of Naia Consortium will soon be evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority after Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade decided last week the terms of the unsolicited offer were acceptable.

“We will look at it, but it depends on the terms,” Edgar Saavedra, chair and CEO of Megawide Construction Corp., told the Inquirer.

Megawide, together with India’s GMR Infrastructure, formed a consortium that won in 2014 the privatization of MCIA under a 25-year public-private partnership contract. Megawide-GMR has long had an eye on establishing an airport foothold in Luzon.

Last year, it revealed a $3-billion (P155 billion) offer to also develop and operate Naia, which was luring private sector interest given worsening congestion and no near-term alternatives.

That offer was set aside as Naia Consortium was the first to submit a proposal. Naia Consortium’s members include Ayala Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Asia Emerging Dragon, Filinvest Development Corp, JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Its technical partner is Singapore’s Changi Airports International.

The Filipino-Indian tandem, which is building the new terminal in Clark International Airport, also sought to participate in the operations and maintenance challenge for the Pampanga gateway but GMR was disqualified.

Megawide-GMR’s opportunity may come via the mandated competitive or Swiss Challenge, which allows rivals to submit bids. Saavedra said they were waiting for the final terms of reference.

He cited the recently launched Swiss challenge for the P736-billion Bulacan airport proposal of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., which owns vast tracts of land in the province.

The main bid parameter here is the size of land assets within the airport complex that will be granted to the government. “It’s very difficult to challenge in that case,” Saavedra admitted.