The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is mulling to privatize the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by the first quarter of 2024, and a total of ₱141 billion is needed to upgrade the airport.
This was disclosed by DOTr Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Roberto Lim in a television interview.
“That is a very tough and tight schedule. We can say that is doable in the first quarter of next year [2024]. It is doable that there will be a conclusion that could possibly be proclaimed by the government,” he said.
According to Lim, the privatization will bring "a lot of upsides" in terms of efficiency.
"When you say introduce efficiency, you say you can process more passengers, you can take in more flights. That would just increase the balance sheet, more revenues means larger share for the government," he explained.
Once privatized, Lim said the rehabilitation of NAIA will cost a total of ₱141 billion.
The Transportation Undersecretary then clarified that the government still owns the assets of NAIA as the private concessionaire will just operate and manage it.
"So it's like a franchise that you are granting with terms and conditions for operating the public facility," he added.
On June 2, the DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) announced that they submitted the joint proposal for NAIA’s solicited Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) board.
In a joint statement, DOTr and MIAA said that the private concessionaire will only have 15 years to take over the airport's operations and management and recover its investment.
"Cebu and Clark have shown that when given the chance, private companies can provide excellent airport services to Filipino travelers and visitors to the Philippines. With this project, it is our goal that travelers to and from Manila, our country’s main international gateway, also benefit from the improvements in efficiency and service that world-class airport operators and investors can bring,” DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier said.
