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The concession agreement for the rehabilitation and modernization of Laguindingan International Airport was signed today (October 28) by the Department of Transportation, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.
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Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Laguindingan’s transformation should promote regional growth, generate jobs and livelihood, and create investment opportunities
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For the first phase, the project will increase passenger traffic per annum from 1.6 million to 3.9 million, then to 6.3 million for the second phase
The concession agreement for the rehabilitation and modernization of Laguindingan International Airport was signed today (October 28) by the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.
“With the influx of travelers in the Mindanao Region, the signing of this concession agreement for the Laguindingan International Airport public-private partnership project (PPP) provides us with the opportunity to expand the facilities, upgrade the terminals, augment capacity, and deliver our services in a safer, efficient and more convenient way,” President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said in a speech during the signing ceremony.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, in a Malacañang press briefing on the same day, said the Laguindingan International Airport PPP project forms part of the government’s airport upgrade and expansion program while enhancing passenger experience.
“Like other airport development projects, Laguindingan’s transformation should promote regional growth, generate jobs and livelihood, and create investment opportunities,” Bautista added.
Moreover, Bautista said the privatization project will also lead to making the Northern Mindanao gateway as a “regional international airport.”
He said they will request Philippine carriers to fly out of Laguindingan to other Asian countries, and foreign carriers to service Laguindingan.
During the same briefing, CAAP director general Manuel Antonio Tamayo said they will partner with AIC to restore international flights in Laguindingan. “It has a lot of potential. The runways are properly built and it still can serve and we can perhaps expand this later on to include the wide-body aircraft. But this point in time single aisle aircraft are sufficient,” he said.
AIC last September was awarded the 30-year concession contract for the upgrade, expansion, operation and maintenance of Laguindingan International Airport after no other firm submitted comparative proposals for the project during the comparative challenge process pursuant to Republic Act No. 11966, also known as the PPP Code.
READ: Aboitiz wins P12.75-B Laguindingan airport contract
AIC initially submitted a P148-billion unsolicited proposal in 2018 for the takeover of four airports, including Laguindingan Airport. The company was granted original proponent status for the project in 2019.
With a planned P12.75-billion investment, the concessionaire will upgrade, expand, operate, and maintain the airport as well as undertake two phases of capacity augmentation to meet increasing demand.
For the first phase, the project will increase passenger traffic per annum from 1.6 million to 3.9 million, then to 6.3 million for the second phase.
The project also involves the reconfiguration of existing terminal space to improve processing capacity, and construction of new passenger terminal building as well as maintenance and repair.
Bautista, meanwhile, said there will be a minimal increase in passenger terminal fee for the private concessionaire to recover their investment. He noted, however, that there should first be improvement in the service and similar to Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s privatization, the passenger terminal fee will be implemented a year after turnover.
DOTr undersecretary for aviation and airports Roberto Lim said the project has a fixed payment of about P47 million for the first year, and this will be growing in subsequent years.
The government also has a share of 3% of gross revenue, and expects to receive P3.766 billion over the concession period.
