Megawide, GMR gets original proponent status from gov’t to develop NAIA

July 17, 2020

Megawide Construction Corp. and Indian-based partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd. has secured original proponent status (OPS) from the government for the development of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after the previous group  backed out due to financing issue.

Megawide told the Philippine Stock Exchange that the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) last July 15 granted them OPS to develop NAIA.

“The decongestion and rehabilitation of NAIA is vital to sustainably supporting the air traffic needs of our national capital region. Megawide has always been supportive of our government’s vision to improve and modernize the airport infrastructure in the Philippines and we are committed to bringing our experience in airport operations and management, and engineering excellence to the country’s main gateway,” Louie Ferrer, Megawide managing director for transportation said.

“We believe in the potential of NAIA and we see its vital role in our economy’s recovery and continuing development. As our main gateway, it is a symbol of our Philippine identity and its rehabilitation will be a big step towards achieving our vision of a First-World Philippines,” he continued.

Ferrer said that the Megawide-led consortium is awaiting the next steps from the government.

Megawide had offered to develop NAIA for $3 billion and a contract period of 18 years on March 1 , 2018.  Its proposal was two weeks behind the proposal of NAIA Consortium to the government.

The consortium’s $3-billion investment proposal would include all airside, terminal and landside improvements, which would be done in three phases.

The Megawide proposal does not include building a third runway.

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.

Once completed, both the airside facilities and the terminals will be able to handle a total annual throughput of 72 million passengers.

The P102-billion NAIA rehabilitation project was proposed by NAIA Consortium made up of  Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc., AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global Group Inc., Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp., Filinvest Development Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. DMS