Conglomerates Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. jointly submitted a new unsolicited proposal to the government for the long-term development of Clark International Airport at a cost of P839 billion.
Under the new proposal, the Filinvest-JGS joint venture will build future capacity augmentation, expand airport facilities including terminals and runways, among others, and operate and maintain the existing and new passenger terminals.
The two also proposed to develop, operate and maintain the commercial assets of Clark International Airport, which include facilities for general aviation and fixed- base operations and real estate.
The development of Clark International Airport is a joint project of the Department of Transportation and the Bases Conversion Development Authority. The airport, under Executive Order 14 s. 2017, was declared an alternate global gateway in the country that could help decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The new proposal was different from the one earlier submitted by the joint venture. Instead of including the construction of a second terminal building, it proposed the long- term development of the airport into the country’s second international gateway.
The previous proposal also included the operation and maintenance of the existing and new terminals under a joint venture with BCDA.
The Filinvest-JGS joint venture submitted a P187-billion unsolicited proposal to develop Clark Airport in July after the government announced that it was open to accepting unsolicited proposals for infrastructure projects.
A similar unsolicited proposal to develop Clark airport was also submitted by India’s GMR Infrastructure Ltd. and Megawide Construction Corp., but the government rejected both proposals saying it would pursue the development of the airport through hybrid public-private partnership.
The DOTr and BCDA commenced early this year the bidding for the selection of the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for Clark International Airport Expansion (Phase 1), where 12 local and foreign firms bought the bid documents.
The deadline for submission of the bid documents is on Dec. 5, 2017 and the notice of award to the winning bidder was expected to be issued on Dec. 15, 2017.
The creation of a new, world-class passenger terminal in Clark is projected to add passenger capacity of 8 million per year from the existing 4.2 million passengers a year, for a total of 12.2 million passengers.
The ultimate target is 80 million per year upon completion of the fourth phase under the latest masterplan.
Airlines operating in Clark include Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair Air, Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, Air Asia Berhad and Emirates Airlines. These airlines mount flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, Pudong, Incheon, Doha, Dubai, Davao, Cebu and Kalibo.