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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines’ main gateway is set to get its much needed facelift, fitted with better runways and free of bed bugs, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the consortium led by Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Corporation inked the landmark concession agreement for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) rehabilitation on Monday, March 18.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) issued the Notice of Award to SMC-SAP & Co. Consortium, which comprises San Miguel Holdings Corporation, RMM Asian Logistics Incorporated, RLW Aviation Development Incorporated, and Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) last February 16.

Marcos said the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project will ramp up adult passenger capacity from 35 million passengers per year to almost double – 62 million passengers annually. 

On top of rehabilitating and expanding the capacity of NAIA, the private sector will pay the government approximately P1 trillion in the next 15 plus 10 years, which is more than 15 times the amount remitted by the Manila International Airport Authority to the national government since 2010.

The bidding was conducted within a record-breaking seven weeks, making it the fastest PPP proposal to be approved in history. The rehabilitation was over three decades in the making, with past administrations and private sector efforts failing due to financial concerns.

“It was fast, but it was also fastidiously examined at every step of the way. It was open, transparent, and competitive. In fact, the project was aligned with international best practices, structuring and tendering bankable and failed PPP projects. The result is this project in which everybody, the people, the government will enjoy the financial windfall,” Marcos said.

“We welcome this development for the NAIA PPP Project as this will not only generate revenue for the government but it will also create opportunities for Filipinos. With a modernized NAIA, we are elevating the airport’s facilities and services to international standards,” Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

With the signing of the Concession Agreement, the operations and maintenance of the airport will be handed over to the concessionaire on or before September 2024.

NAIA has the unwelcome distinction of being named among the worst airports in the world.

In a study by business finance and lending research and information provider BusinessFinancing.co.uk, NAIA ranked as the fourth worst airport in Asia for business travelers, with an average rating of 2.78 over 10. Only Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz International Airport (2.72/10), Kazakhstan’s Almaty International Airport (2.62/10), and Kuwait International Airport (1.69/10) ranked worse.

The study used passenger reviews from aviation customer review site Skytrax. Ratings from reviewers tagged as “business travelers” were then averaged to produce a ranked list of airports around the world and specific regions. – with reports from Lance Spencer Yu/Rappler.com