LUCIO C. Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. and its Chinese partner asked for a further 90-day extension to complete the documentary requirements to post-qualify their bid for the $10-billion Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA), the Cavite government said.
“The consortium was able to make a partial submission. But as mentioned, they requested a 90-day extension to make a complete submission,” Cavite’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Selection Committee Legal Officer Jesse R. Grepo told BusinessWorld in a phone message Monday.
He said the province’s PPP Selection Committee will evaluate the request Tuesday afternoon.
The Cavite government had approved the first request of MacroAsia and its partner China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. to extend the due date for post-qualification, originally due 60 days after they received the notice of award on Feb. 14.
The province initially gave the consortium until the second week of June to process and submit the documents before a joint venture development agreement can be signed.
Cavite Governor Juanito Victor C. Remulla has said the province was hoping to break ground with its joint venture partner for the first phase of the airport project by the second quarter.
The first phase of the SPIA project, which will cost $4 billion, includes the construction of the Sangley connector road and bridge to connect the Kawit segment of the Manila-Cavite Expressway to the international airport.
Phase 1 also involves the construction of the airport’s first runway. The airport is rated at 25 million passengers yearly, and is intended to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Cavite expects the airport to start fully operating by 2023, with partial operations to start a year earlier. The fourth runway will be opened after six years.
The same consortium will work on the other two phases of the project, but there may be contract renegotiations, according to the Cavite government.
The second phase, which will cost about $6 billion, involves the construction of two more runways, giving the airport an annual capacity of 75 million passengers.
The last phase is the expansion to four runways, bringing capacity to 130 million passengers. — Arjay L. Balinbin
