A consortium of six Philippine conglomerates has raised its proposal to upgrade the Southeast Asian nation’s congested main airport to 267 billion pesos ($4.8 billion), more than double an initial plan.
(Bloomberg) — A consortium of six Philippine conglomerates has raised its proposal to upgrade the Southeast Asian nation’s congested main airport to 267 billion pesos ($4.8 billion), more than double an initial plan.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Alliance Global Group Inc., Ayala Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp. aim to increase the annual capacity of the Manila airport to about 70 million passengers in the long term from 31 million currently, the group said in a statement on Monday. US-based infrastructure investor and airport operator Global Infrastructure Partners is also part of the group.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport has been handling well beyond the capacity it was initially designed for, reaching a peak of 47.9 million passengers in 2019. It was also plagued by congestion and power outages in January and May, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration wants to tap private companies to manage the airport as part of a wider infrastructure push.
Of the tycoons’ proposed investment, 57 billion pesos will be an upfront payment to the government and another 57 billion pesos will be invested over the first five years of a proposed 25-year concession period, they said.
The consortium in April submitted a 100 billion-peso proposal to modernize and raise the capacity of Manila’s main gateway, reviving a 2018 plan it submitted to former President Rodrigo Duterte which was rejected at the height of the pandemic.
The proposed concession period is 10 years more than what the government is willing to give and Filinvest CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap said the investment “will only work under a 25-year concession period.”
“With a longer concession period, the investors are also able to put in a much larger amount for infrastructure and technology within a shorter time frame, so we can quickly ramp up the capacity” of the airport, she said at a briefing.
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