INTERESTED parties for the contract to develop the current Sangley Airport into an international gateway has attracted at least six parties, a local government official said on Tuesday.
Cavite Governor Juanito Victor Remulla said some of the interested parties are Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the SM Group, the DM Consunji Group, the Ayala Group, and a Chinese construction company, adding that there are several others.
The contract, he said, involves the construction of the airport, which is estimated at roughly $10 billion, including the land and airside components and reclamation.
“There will be no more Swiss Challenge for this because this is a pure local endeavor,” he said.
Bid submission is slated for end-November, and the winning bidder is expected to break ground for the project by the first quarter of 2020.
The Cavite government originally submitted this project as an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), but the complexity of its nature, and the huge costs of construction pushed the city to tap private-sector expertise for it.
“The government procedures for construction are very difficult. Even though we say that we are the one doing construction, just to go through the bidding process is very tedious. The national government thoroughly checks everything. So we prefer that the private corporation does it,” Remulla explained.
Under the deal, the winning bidder will build an airport complex on a 1,400-hectare property in Sangley. The air hub will have four runways and a terminal capacity of 100 million passengers per year.
“The operations and maintenance bidding will happen after we awarded the building or the contract for the airport corporation,” Remulla explained. “If they submit their design or if they agree with the design, then they can bid for the operation and maintenance.”
Tuesday also saw the transport department conducting a “dry run” of the Sangley Airport, which is currently being expanded by the government.