Clark mulls Pacific Avia Group proposal for new terminal

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – After a failed bidding for the construction of a modern passenger terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here, the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) has announced it is now evaluating Pacific Avia Group, Inc. (PAGI) as possible joint venture (JV) partner in the project that could cost anywhere from P3 billion to P7 billion.

In a statement, CIAC vice president for administration and finance Romeo Dyoco, who chairs the joint venture-selection Committee (JV-SC), said whoever will be CIAC’s partner will “design, finance, construct and operate” the proposed terminal 2 which will increase the passenger capacity of the old but upgraded terminal 1 that was constructed by the Americans when Clark was still a US air force base.

He said PAGI has been accepted by JV-SC “for detailed evaluation and eligibility check” which is expected to be finished by March 13. After passing this requirement, PAGI “will be subjected to a competitive challenge of stage 3” process, it said.

CIAC cited the need to construct a bigger passenger terminal “due to the significant increases in the volume of flights and international passengers during the past three years” and its “mandate” to transform the DMIA into a premiere international gateway of the country.

In May last year, CIAC announced the bidding for the terminal project, soliciting three companies which submitted bid documents. Admiral Energy of the US passed the bidding but later failed to submit proof of its track record in the operation of an international passenger terminal.

CIAC said it consulted with and got the go signal from the Office of Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) to pursue the project through the so-called competitive challenge process under its old JV guidelines.

It noted that last November, it received four unsolicited proposals under such process, inclusing those from PAGI, Philco Aero Consortium, R–II Holdings,Inc. and SNC – Lavalin International, Inc.

PAGI, the only local group among the four, is composed of A.M. Oreta Construction Co., DHL Philippines, DRI Holdings, EGIS AVIA S.A., Pentagon Development Corp., the Bank of Commerce and Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose.

CIAC initially approved the proposal of R – II Holdings, but it was later found to have failed to cope with “minimum non negotiable issues required for the project”.

Last Jan. 8, PAGI submitted a complete proposal for the terminal project and this was received favorably by CIAC, even as a new party, the Eugenio Group, also submitted its proposal.

Last Feb. 27, the JV-SC received another proposal from Al Mal Proposal from the Al Karafi Group.

“For very critical reasons on the substance of their proposals and the contextual conditions and requirements of their proposals both the Eugenio Consortium and the Al Mal were rejected,” CIAC said.

“The CIAC joint venture selection committee (JVSC) evaluated both proposals head to head and item to item, and arrived at the conclusion that the PAGI, proposal met its minimum requirements and is vastly superior to the Eugenio CIAC noted that while the present terminal was upgraded last year, its capacity is limited to only 1.5 million passengers per year.

CIAC said, however, that other facilities have been installed to modernize DMIA. These include radars, runway lights and signages, a second runway, modern aviation security and emergency systems, and terminal carousel and x-ray machines.

Airport officials also said they are eyeing a new terminal that could increase DMIA’s passenger capacity from three to seven million passengers annually.