The Department of Transportation said it rejected the unsolicited proposal of conglomerates Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. to operate and maintain Clark International Airport.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the Filinvest-JGS joint venture’s unsolicited proposal for Clark O&M contract was rejected because the government was set to announce a public bidding for the project.
Tugade said the parameters and guidelines for the bidding of operations and maintenance of Clark Airport would be published in newspapers in March.
“Who wins take the O&M. It’s a matter of time. There’s already an approval,” Tugade said.
This means the government will hold a public bidding to invite other companies interested in the project, instead of giving the Filinvest-JGS joint venture the status of original proponent.
The Filinvest-JGS joint venture earlier submitted a proposal 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.
Earlier, Megawide-GMR won the bidding for the construction of a new passenger terminal in Clark Airport, when it submitted the lowest financial proposal of P9.36 billion on Dec. 14.
Clark International Airport is the second main gateway into the country, and the new 100,000-square meter terminal will double its capacity to eight million passengers a year, boosting air transport capacity for the Greater Manila Area.
The project is expected to ease the strain on the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport and help create jobs and increase development in Central Luzon, a growing economic center.
Clark International Airport is envisioned to be Asia’s next premier gateway. It now has an annual capacity of four million passengers. Airlines operating in Clark include Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair, Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, AirAsia Berhad, Philippine Airlines and Emirates Airlines.
These airlines mount flights to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, Pudong, Incheon, Doha, Dubai, Davao, Cebu and Kalibo.
The Megawide-GMR won a 25-year concession agreement in December 2013 that involved the renovation of Terminal 1 of Mactan Cebu airport as well as the design, financing, construction and operation of a second terminal. It submitted the highest bid of P14.4 billion.
The P14.4-billion premium paid by GMR-Megawide was on top of the P17.5 billion that would be spent on a new passenger terminal.