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Megawide Construction Corp. and its partner, GMR Infrastructure Ltd., based in Bangalore, on Monday applied for the revocation of its original proponent (OPS) status for the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
In a letter dated December 21, 2020, the consortium made its case on why its OPS should be reconsidered and reinstated by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Board, again clarifying that the group has the financial capacity. to continue the project.
The letter was signed by the CEO of Megawide transportation, Manuel Louie Ferrer, and addressed to MIAA. A copy was also given to Secretary of Transportation Arthur Tugade.
The MIAA, at a board meeting on December 4, decided to revoke the Megawide Group-GMR OPS for the P109 billion project, after the government said the private proponent did not meet the established deadlines. Megawide said, however, that no deadlines were set.
The revocation of PAHO was subsequently ratified by the MIAA in a subsequent meeting on December 15, albeit with two caveats: the MIAA will continue with its ongoing NAIA rehabilitation and reconstruction program; and that Megawide retains its procedural rights over the project.
Among the issues raised by the Investment Coordination Committee of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-ICC) are the group’s financial capacity to promote the project, as well as the alleged failure to meet deadlines.
Regarding financial capacity, Megawide said that it has already submitted the necessary documents to demonstrate that it can undertake the project together with GMR, with 70% of the project in debt and the remaining 30% of capital.
There were also interpretation issues between the government and the Megawide group, as the government said that Megawide must first demonstrate that it can bear the full cost of the project, but the group interpreted the build-operate-transfer (BOT) law as saying that the group only needs to demonstrate that it has the financial capacity to finance the project in phases.
“In light of the foregoing, Megawide GMR Consortium respectfully requests reconsideration of the MIAA Board resolution revoking the Megawide GMR Consortium OPS for the NAIA Project, and prays for the reinstatement of said OPS,” said in his letter the Monday.
The Megawide consortium was awarded the OPS for the rehabilitation of NAIA in July after talks with the NAIA Consortium, made up of several of the country’s largest conglomerates, collapsed.
The original unsolicited $ 3 billion proposal from the Megawide consortium was submitted in March 2018, but was shelved in favor of the NAIA Consortium, whose proposal was first received by the government.
Ferrer said in November that the company is optimistic that the Swiss Challenge for the project could be completed in March 2021. —KBK, GMA News
