The bid deadline for the privatization of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA/MNL) is just a few weeks away and the Philippines government has suggested that no more than eight bids will be received by then. Monday, November 20, is the final date for sending in queries.

According to a report from PhilStar Global, the number has come from Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, whose Department of Transportation (DOTr) believes that no further documents are likely to be issued as the December 27 deadline approaches.

Bautista said that picking up bidding papers now, when the DOTr was completing one-to-one meetings with existing potential bidders, would handicap newcomers to the process. In an unusual move, that might also discourage further bids, he told the newspaper: “We don’t expect new bidders from here on because it will take time to do the due diligence. It will take a longer time to make the proposal because they have to assess the project as well.”

The invitation to bid for the privatization of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)—a hub that handled 31 million passengers in 2022—was issued at the end of August by the DOTr and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA). The invitation to bidders can be viewed on the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center portal.

The cost of the bid documents is not cheap. Available through a ‘virtual data room’, access has set interested parties back $50,000 to get their hands on the concession agreement and other documents providing background information on the PPP
project.

At that price, the eight entities that have requested and paid for documents are serious participants, but there is still no guarantee that they will make bids. So who are the eight possible contenders, and what are they expected to do over what is quite a short concession period? Read on to find out …

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