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If the private sector cannot rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Philippine government would do it, as he threatened to pull out the project from the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
Speaking to businessmen on Tuesday, January 12, Dominguez noted that the build-operate-transfer (BOT) law requires a certain amount of equity on the proponent’s side.
“The law requires a certain amount of capital and they don’t have it. And the only thing that we have seen so far are press releases that they have capital. But we haven’t seen it in actuality,” Dominguez said, without naming a specific company.
“They want to do or they don’t want to do [it]? Make up your mind because if not, NAIA will do it itself. It may not be as good as the plans of the private sector, but their plans, they cannot implement it anyway, so what’s the point of discussing that?” the finance chief added.
Last November 19, the National Economic and Development Authority Board’s Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee returned the NAIA proposal of Megawide Construction Company to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), saying that the firm’s equity position is insufficient.
The equity requirement for the NAIA rehabilitation project is at P32.3 billion, but the equity position of Megawide, the second original proponent status (OPS) holder, is at P18 billion based on its 2019 audit financial statement.
MIAA revoked Megawide’s OPS for the project, but the latter appealed. Megawide maintained that it has enough capital to meet the requirements under the BOT law, which was already contained in the financial documents it sent to MIAA on November 20.
‘Waste of time’
Dominguez also slammed the first OPS holder for the NAIA rehabilitation project, the NAIA Consortium, composed of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates.
The NAIA Consortium and the government reached a deadlock after the former suggested changes to its P102-billion proposal to make it viable amid the coronavirus pandemic. The government later withdrew the NAIA Consortium’s OPS.
“Who stopped that? The government? Who wasted two and a half years? The government? No. We said, ‘This is the deal.’ Now you want us to bend over each time? We’re not going to do it. At least this administration was not gonna do it,” Dominguez said.
The finance chief also said he asked the PPP Center to review contingent liabilities or potential losses. – Rappler.com
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