NAIA Consortium, a group of seven conglomerates that proposed to redevelop the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, has to address two issues relating to manpower absorption and the provision of a people mover system inside the airport complex.
During the first Transport Talks this year, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Ruben Reinoso Jr. explained that these two issues are critical to move forward with the Swiss challenge for the deal.
“We will convene a meeting. One of the outstanding issues are the people move; what they are proposing is a bus rapid transit, but Miaa has reservations because there might be issues of security on the tarmac,” he said, referring to the Manila International Airport Authority.
The bus rapid transit system, he explained, is proposed to be deployed inside the Naia complex, which may pose security risks.
“We also have issues on the employees of Miaa. Under the original talks, no one will be laid off, but the new proposal gives existing [employees] 180 days before being laid off,” Reinoso said.
Thus, there’s a need for a negotiation between the Miaa and Naia Consortium.
“We will make the concerns of the primary grantor, Miaa, clear,” he said.
The negotiation, to be set based on the availability of negotiating panels for both sides, will be led by Presidential Adviser for Flagship Programs and Projects Vivencio Dizon.
The government has 80 days from the approval of the National Economic and Development Authority Board to finish this negotiation initiative. The Neda Board approved the project on November 28 last year.
“We hope we will be able to meet that deadline,” Reinoso said.
The unsolicited proposal, which underwent several changes since it was first submitted a few years back, entails increasing the capacity of the country’s main gateway to 65 million passengers per year.
Based on an indicative timeline, the P102-billion Naia rehabilitation will be implemented in three phases.
The first phase, which starts in 2021, will involve the reconfiguration of the existing airport terminals to increase their capacity to 47 million passengers annually from 31 million passengers per year currently. This will take a year to complete.
The second phase will see the development of a new passenger terminal building, annexing the second terminal of Naia. It will also expand the third terminal, improve the apron baggage and boarding areas, as well as upgrade the airside facilities through a new taxiway and modernized air-traffic management equipment.
With these improvements, the capacity of Naia by 2023 should be increased to 58 million passengers per year.
The third phase involves the construction of new terminals and the expansion of the existing ones to raise Naia’s capacity to 65 million passengers per year by 2024. It will also involve the development of airside facilities and upgrading works for general utilities, a car park area, passenger connection and miscellaneous facilities corresponding to the increased capacity.
Naia Consortium is composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc; AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Alliance Global Group Inc.; Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; JG Summit Holdings Inc.; and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes