Upgrading of 5 Regional Airports to be Pursued Through GAA or ODA

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) yesterday announced that the Regional Airport Projects [Airport Development, Operations and Maintenance for the Bacolod-Silay, Davao, Iloilo, Laguindingan and New Bohol (Panglao) Projects] will be pursued through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) or General Appropriations Act (GAA) funding instead of through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement process as originally planned.

“The expansion and upgrading of the airports via the GAA make the projects cheaper as cost of money is lower, thus more beneficial to the public,” says DOTr OIC Undersecretary for Aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo.

Usec. Tamayo further emphasized that the change in the procurement mode will not necessarily delay the implementation of the Projects.

“Through this decision, we expect project completion to be faster and more efficient. Further, this would help avoid legal issues with concessionaires that may cause regrettable delays," Usec. Tamayo added.

The DOTr underscored that this decision was brought about through collegial discussions, including the economic clusters and congressional leaders.

In a Memorandum dated 16 May 2017, DOTr assured that payments for the Invitation Documents shall be refunded to both previously pre-qualified (for the bundled projects) and new (for the unbundled projects) bidders at the soonest possible time.

The Regional Airport PPP Projects were originally approved under a bundled PPP structure by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) and the NEDA Board. The NEDA Board approved the unbundling of the five airport projects in November 2016.