Megawide-GMR Consortium, a joint venture of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure of India, said Thursday it submitted a $3-billion unsolicited proposal to rehabilitate and double the capacity of the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“As an experienced private operator, we have a deep understanding of the problem experienced by Naia and we would like to offer our take on the solution,” Louie Ferrer, one of the consortium’s authorized representatives, said.
“It is vital to immediately decongest Naia and maximize its potential in order to sustainably support the air traffic needs of the greater capital region,” he said.
“A solution is urgently needed, which we in the private sector are willing to support and provide,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer said Naia’s most critical constraint was the limited airfield capacity, which reduced its capability to accommodate more flights. The airport also has a reduced ability to control delays related to aircraft movement, thereby worsening terminal congestion, he said.
The consortium’s $3-billion investment proposal would include all airside, terminal and landside improvements, which would be done in three phases.
The amount is lower than the P350-billion offer of Naia Consortium whose members include Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., AEDC, Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
“This is a technically responsive proposal. We have evaluated multiple options to enhance Naia’s capacity and efficiency while reducing airside and landside congestion,” Ferrer said.
Andrew Harrison, another authorized consortium representative, said the detailed masterplan considered all possible constraints in transforming a fully operational brownfield airport.
“It aims to maintain the high service levels expected of a world-class airport for the next 18 years,” he said.
The consortium said the solutions would increase airfield capacity to 950 to 1,000 aircraft movements per day, representing a 30-percent to 35-percent increase from the current 730 aircraft movements a day.
For peak hours, the consortium will increase Naia’s peak hour aircraft handling capacity by 50 percent from 40 to 60. Within 24 months of taking over operations, the consortium will also rehabilitate and expand the existing terminals, which will roughly double the space and result in over 700,000 square meters of terminal area.
Once completed, both the airside facilities and the terminals will be able to handle a total annual throughput of 72 million passengers.
The consortium proposed a shorter concession term of 18 years. “This concession period is unprecedented in airport PPP projects of this size across the world,” Ferrer said.
“However, we believe that such a concession term will balance two very important objectives: providing flexibility and time for the government to refine multi-airport system strategy while addressing Naia’s immediate problems.”