San Miguel set to build P735-B Bulacan airport
Credit to Author: LISBET K. ESMAEL| Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:19:53 +0000
SAN Miguel Corp. is assured of clinching the government contract to construct and run its planned P735-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulacan province after no other company countered its unsolicited proposal with a better one.
The so-called Swiss challenge for the listed conglomerate’s offer to build the air hub in the province’s Bulakan town — seen to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City once it is finished — ended on Wednesday.
In a mobile message, Giovanni Z. Lopez, Transportation assistant secretary for procurement and project implementation who led the Bids and Awards committee, said that since there were no challengers, San Miguel, as the original proponent, would be awarded the contract in accordance with the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
He added, however, that the company has to “comply with some conditions in our notice of award (NOA).”
For her part, Transportation Assistant Secretary for Communications Goddes Hope Libiran said in a Viber message these conditions included the need to “post performance security” and show “proof of commitment.”
This security may be in the form of cash representing a minimum of 2 percent of the project’s cost; irrevocable letter of credit representing a minimum of 5 percent of the project’s cost; and a surety bond representing minimum 10 percent of the project’s cost.
“Any combination would suffice so as not to delay compliance,” Libiran said.
San Miguel has 20 days to comply with the conditions, according to Lopez. Once these are met, the notice to proceed may be awarded to the company by the first week of September.
Lopez said Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade wanted the groundbreaking of the airport’s construction to begin by the fourth quarter of this year.
Sought for comment, San Miguel President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang said in a mobile message his company would adhere to the department’s conditions.
“From the time we first proposed to build a new international gateway, our goal was simple: help address the perennial problem of airport congestion, which has weighed down many aspects of our lives,” Ang said in a statement.
“What we hope to build is a long-term solution — a sustainable and world-class Philippine gateway with enough runways and facilities to meet current and future needs,” he added.
Ang called the project San Miguel’s “single biggest investment in our country” and “a landmark Filipino project that will be built at no cost to [the] government and with no subsidies or guarantees of any kind.”
This comes after the conglomerate secured in October 2017 the original proponent status for its proposal to build and operate the 2,500-hectare airport.
According to the department, this includes constructing an 8.4-kilometer tollway linking the NMIA to the North Luzon Expressway in Bulacan’s Marilao town.
The airport will have a design capacity of 100 million passengers yearly, and airside facilities with a configuration of four parallel runways.
It is expected to be operational within four to six years from the start of construction, which is aimed before the end of this year.
San Miguel unit San Miguel Holdings Corp. is taken to build the NMIA.