Posted on October 13, 2013 10:21:08 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
RECENT CHANGES to the concession
agreement of the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA)
public-private partnership (PPP) project have made it “more attractive” to investors,
a top official of a company prequalified for the auction told reporters last
week.
“I think, certainly, that would be helpful to make it more attractive to
private investors,” JG Summit Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Operating
Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said last week when asked to comment on the tweaks
in the bid contract.
The draft contract revisions, the
department had said, involve:
• lengthening the concession period to
25 years from 20 years;
• transferring the operation and
maintenance of the aprons from the grantors to the concessionaire, including
the right to derive revenue from these areas;
• flexibility in the implementation of
capacity augmentation;
• sharing of the real property tax
liability; and
• raising the prohibition on competing
airports to 20 years or when passenger traffic hits 20 million for three years,
whichever is later, from 10 years/passenger traffic of 15 million per annum.
Asked on whether JG Summit and its
partner, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) are keen on pursuing their bid,
Mr. Gokongwei replied:
“We’re working on it very closely with
our partner, with Metro Pacific.”
The MCIA auction has been moved to
Nov. 15 from mid-October. The project was originally set to have been auctioned
off last Aug. 28.
Seven groups have pre-qualified to
bid: the MPIC-JG Summit consortium; AAA Airport Partners of the Ayala and
Aboitiz groups; Filinvest-CAI consortium; San Miguel-Incheon Airport
consortium; First Philippine Airports led by First Philippine Holdings, Inc.;
Premier Airport Group led by SM Investments Corp.; and the GMR Infrastructure
and Megawide consortium.
The MCIA project aims to modernize the
country’s second-largest airport and gateway to the Visayas.
Work includes rehabilitation of the
existing terminal and construction of a new building with an eight million
annual passenger capacity.
The MCIA project was one of three the
Transportation department was forced to defer last month -- the others being
the P60-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 expansion project and the
P1.72-billion automated fare collection system for Metro Manila’s light
railways -- after prospective bidders raised concerns over contract terms. --
L. C. S. Marasigan
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