THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) will order new feasibility studies for four regional airport projects, with the studies targeted for completion next year.

The government has said it is open to auctioning off the operations and maintenance (O&M) component for the regional airport projects, after removing the regional airport projects — New Bohol (Panglao), Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan and Bacolod — from the public-private partnership (PPP) pipeline in favor of funding the construction via government appropriations or overseas development assistance (ODA).

This follows the change in policy of the government of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, which prefers a “hybrid” funding scheme, under which the government funds construction through the national budget or ODA, and then bids out the O&M to the private sector.

“The proponent cannot do a feasibility study… We have to renew the feasibility studies for Davao, Laguindingan, Bacolod, Iloilo,” DoTr Undersecretary Manuel Antonio L. Tamayo told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippines-Sweden Airport Collaboration seminar on Nov. 23. Panglao airport is not included “because Panglao will be turned over next year,” Mr. Tamayo said.

When asked about the timeline, Mr. Tamayo said, “We hope by next year.”

He added that the government is giving priority to Davao International Airport, as well as Laguindingan Airport because of demand.

“The priority is Davao, because of investments in Davao. We’re pushing Laguindingan as well, there’s a lot of traffic,” Mr. Tamayo said.

The PPP Center said in 2014 that it intended to bid out the bundled O&M of the airports under a single PPP project.

However, they were unbundled when the Duterte government stepped in.

The government in 2014 awarded Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) to a joint venture of Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure as a PPP project. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo

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