As the primary air transport hub
and therefore gateway to the Philippines, the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila is expected to be held to certain standards,
especially considering the usual traffic it gets in arrivals and departures.
Unfortunately that has not been the case in recent years, well before the
COVID-19 pandemic. Several steps have been taken to address these problems,
from a rehabilitation plan amounting to about P100 billion, and even a move to
privatize the airport operations and infrastructure development. But this past
Monday, signs of progress in improving NAIA were revealed to have stalled.
Inquirer.net reports that the NAIA rehabilitation and privatization
project has been delayed indefinitely due to multiple extenuating factors. This
was revealed by Sec. Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on
April 26, in an online briefing that is part of the pre-State of the Nation
Address preparations. Because of strict requirements from the government, the
opposition of some other elected officials, and the difficulties of doing any large-scale
work during a pandemic and quarantine lockdowns, most private partners in the
rehab plan for the airport have exited, and the national government must
shoulder all upgrade expenditures by itself.
To give an example, one of the
bidders for the NAIA rehab plan was Megawide Construction Corp. and Mactan Cebu
International Airport contractor GMR Infrastructure. In 25 years their proposal
would have expanded passenger and flight capacity for all terminals, plus
linked all these with an elevated railway system. Members of Congress led
opposition to the bid, which was thrown out December last year by the Manila
International Airport Authority (MIAA). Other proposals for the NAIA
improvement have been presented by San Miguel Corp. and Philippine Air Ground
Support Solutions Inc., but Sec. Tugade declined to elaborate on their status.
Serious action to rehabilitate
NAIA was discussed as far back as 2018 when a group of companies formed the
NAIA Consortium with a rehab proposal submitted to MIAA. No deal was finalized
until 2020 when the consortium simply withdrew their bet in the wake of the
COVID pandemic. Now, with the other proposal from Megawide-GMR rejected, the
air gateway to the Philippines continues to face an uncertain future,
especially with a rising sentiment to have NAIA closed down as soon as the under-construction
New Manila International Airport complex in Bulacan is officially opened in
2026.
Image courtesy of Rappler
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