THE seven conglomerates who submitted their unsolicited bid to redevelop the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) is tapping Singapore’s Changi Airport International as its technical partner.
“Yes, the consortium agreed that Changi will be our technical partner,” Jose Ma. K. Lim told reporters. “We only had initial meetings. We’ll probably have more to report after our next meeting but we’re waiting for that to be called.”
Late last year, seven of the country’s top conglomerates formalized their bid to rehabilitate, operate and maintain the Naia, a facility that has outgrown itself and made the Philippines renowned the world over as having one of the worst airports.
The consortium is composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., the Ayala group’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., Lucio Tan’s Asia’s Emerging Dragons Corp., the Gotianun’s Filinvest Development Corp., the Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investment Corp.
San Miguel Corp., one of the country’s largest and most aggressive infrastructure companies, was excluded in the consortium. San Miguel, which currently operates the Naia Expressway, is proposing the construction of a new international airport in Bulacan.
“Numerous foreign and local experts have highlighted the advantage of keeping an airport within city limits,” the consortium said. “Like other major cities in the world, experts recommend an in-city airport and another one outside the metropolis to complement it.”
“Megacities that benefit from a two-airport setup include Tokyo [Haneda and Narita] and London [Gatwick and Heathrow],” the unnamed consortium added.
The conglomerates said in separate statements last year that Naia will continue to be a strategic gateway for our country and a key hub of airline operations for many more years.
“The consortium will work with foreign technical partners with proven world-class track records and experiences in airport operations to improve, upgrade and enhance the operational efficiencies of Naia covering both land-side and air-side facilities.”
It said that given proper upgrades and strategic improvements, Naia can easily accommodate an additional 11 million passengers annually from the current 39.5 million passengers, and can increase its hourly aircraft movements—landing and takeoff—from 40 movements per hour to 48 movements per hour.
“The unsolicited proposal is intended to help accelerate the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. Augmenting Naia’s capacity is the quickest way to address airport congestion, while other airports are being developed outside Metro Manila,” it said. “This approach promotes greater economic benefit and sustainability for the whole country.”