The Provincial Government of Cavite (PGC) has set September 20, 2021, as the deadline for the submission of bid proposals for the development of Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA), located in Manila Bay and approximately 13 km southwest of the capital.
In February 2021, the PGC posted the invitation bid on its website for this project, which is a master-planned 1,500-hectare new international airport development to be implemented as a commercial joint venture (JV) arrangement between the PGC and its selected JV partner.
The selected JV partner will be responsible for co-developing SPIA in a joint venture with the PGC, providing the necessary equity investment, debt financing, and credit enhancements, and in securing/performing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services for the land and airport development components of the project.
The Request for Proposals (RFP), comprising of (i) the Project Feasibility Study including Schedules and Updates; (ii) the Instructions to Candidate JV Partners; (iii) the Draft Joint Venture and Development Agreement – was made available at the Office of the Provincial Governor at the Cavite Provincial Capitol for distribution to interested parties during the whole month of March 2021.
Also, within March 2021, the project’s pre-bid/JV selection conference for the project was held in Cavite. It is a forum where the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) and prospective bidders meet to discuss all the aspects of the procurement at hand. For procurements involving a Philippine government unit, be it a national or local government unit, a pre-bid conference must be held at least twelve (12) calendar days before the deadline for the submission and receipt of bids.
Some key qualifications of the SPIA project include:
- The Cavite government is requiring that its JV partner should be Philippine majority-owned and controlled, whether it be a single entity or a consortium.
- Financial qualification requirement – the interested company or consortium should also have a net worth of at least USD 1.6 billion.
- Technical qualification requirement – the firm or consortium should have successfully built in the last 20 years at least one international airport development project with a minimum handling capacity of 12.5 million passengers per annum and at least one land reclamation development project. This can be met either by the company itself, the members constituting the consortium, any of their affiliates or their nominated contractors.
SPIA is designed to be a world-class international airport to be developed in phases and expandable to four runways with an annual design capacity of up to 130 million passengers. SPIA will be a catalyst for economic development in the Cavite province and the region, is expected to directly create more than 50,000 jobs, and help decongest the country’s main gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
(Sources: Philstar Global; The Official Website of the Provincial Government of Cavite)
