Megawide Construction Corp. said Monday it filed an appeal with the board of Manila International Airport Authority which revoked the company's original proponent status for the P109-billion rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“We respectfully move for reconsideration of the MIAA board of directors’ resolution to revoke said OPS for the unsolicited proposal for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Comprehensive Capacity Enhancement Project, and pray for the reinstatement of such OPS,” Manuel Louie Ferrer, authorized representative of Megawide GMR Consortium, said in a four-page letter to MIAA obtained by Manila Standard.
“We respectfully state that we submitted all the necessary documents to prove our financial capability to MIAA and DOTr weeks before the MIAA board decided to revoke our OPS," Ferrer said.
Ferrer said Megawide submitted support documents proving its financial capability on Nov. 20 and Dec. 1, 2020 to undertake the project.
He said in the letter that the NAIA project would be financed through a combination of 70-percent debt amounting to P76.1 billion and 30-percent equity amounting to P32.6 billion.
“The debt portion equivalent to P76.1 billion is covered by a financing facility amounting to P76.7 billion [submitted on Sept. 1, 2020],” Ferrer said.
He said that Megawide's share in the equity requirement equivalent to P19,575,138,130.74 would be fulfilled by a combination of net worth amounting to P17,998,512,696.00 and set-aside deposit of P1,576,625,434.74.
Based on GMR’s audited financial statement for the period covering April 2019 to March 2020, it had total net worth of P78.6 billion which was more than sufficient to meet the P13.1-billion equity requirement share.
“Since these documents were submitted before the MIAA decision was made, the decision naturally was based on an incomplete set of facts/documents. As a result, the decision should be reconsidered in light of new and material information addressing the very issue raised prompting MIAA’s decision,” Ferrer said.
“We respectfully point out as well that since the government had negotiated with the earlier proponents–otherwise known as the 'Super Consortium' for two years, it would be in keeping with good practice and fair play for us to be also afforded a reasonable period within which to negotiate with the Government and submit all the necessary documents to show our capabilities,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer said the issuance of OSP in July 2020 came only five months before the MIAA board’s decision to revoke the OPS.
“We therefore believe that our additional submissions in November/December must be considered and we appeal to the Government for reconsideration on this matter,” he said.
“Megawide GMR Consortium is of the position that it has already fully complied with the NEDA ICC‒s interpretation of Section 5.4(c) of the Rules, specifically its financial capability to fund the NAIA Project. It bears noting that this appears to be the only ground for the revocation of the OPS based on the Public Services Committee Senate hearing,” Ferrer said.
“Thus, the unsolicited proposal of Megawide GMR Consortium merits reconsideration based on the documents submitted on Nov. 20, 2020 and Dec. 1, 2020,” he said.