The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has awarded a contract to the North Luzon Airport Consortium (NLAC) for the long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) of Clark International Airport (CIA), located 80km northwest of Manila, in the Central Luzon Region of the Philippines. Mott MacDonald, as part of the team of IFC and lead transaction adviser for the project, provided technical advisory services to the BCDA.
The first airport project in the Philippines to be tendered under the current Philippine government’s recent hybrid PPP policy, the 25-year concession aims to transform CIA into an international gateway to the Northern and Central Luzon regions. The contract involves the equipping and full management of the entire facility, including the existing passenger terminal and a new modern terminal building targeted for operation by 2021. The award of this second public-private partnership (PPP) contract for the O&M follows the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) PPP concluded in 2017.
The NLAC consortium will be responsible for developing the commercial assets, operating and maintaining airport facilities and fitting out the new terminal, which will have capacity to serve eight million passengers per annum, doubling the current capacity of the existing terminal. The estimated cost of the fit-out works is PHP6 billion and are scheduled to be completed within one year of the turnover of the terminal.
Mott MacDonald supported IFC and BCDA in the development of technical requirements for both the EPC and O&M components of the hybrid PPP. The consultancy drew on its international expertise across Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom to offer a unique solution to the development of the new airport infrastructure that met the requirements and the special nature of the two-part PPP.
Ian Guy, Mott MacDonald’s technical director, commented: “The aviation sector in the Philippines is rapidly changing and in need of additional capacity. The development of new approaches to PPPs is also something the Philippines government has prioritised. With IFC we needed to ensure a high-quality technical outcome for the construction and long terms operations within the tight timelines set by our client. It has been a tremendous collaborative effort by all involved.”