DOTr expects to award P170-b NAIA contract by December

By Darwin G. Amojelar

THE Department of Transportation ex- pects to award the P170-billion contract to rehabilitate and expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by endDecember this year, Secretary Jaime Bautista said Thursday.

Bautista said the agency would finalize the terms of reference approved by the National Economic Development Authority before the publication of the invitation to bid.

“Probably in the first week of August, we will publish the invitation to bid and we can give them two months to submit their bids. We will give them investments that harness employment. three months, including the possible extension. By November, we can already open the bids and award by the end of December,” Bautista said.

ICTSI UNIT DIVIDENDS.

Officials of Ahi Investment Ltd. in Papua New Guinea turn over PGK2.5 million (US$695,000) in dividends to Ahi Prudential Development to fund development projects and programs across the Ahicommunities of Yalu, Kamkumung, Hengali, Butibam, Yanga and Wagang. Ahi Prudential is a trustee company created to hold shares from AIL on behalf of beneficiaries. AIL’s subsidiary Ahi Terminal Services Ltd. partially owns South Pacific International Container Terminal Ltd., part of the concession agreement between International Container Terminal Services Inc. and the Ahi Group of Companies.

“WTCMM, as a recognized major venue provider in the country, along with other industry players, play a vital role in the economic recovery by providing a fast track for companies in the B2B [business to business] space,” she said.

Pascual cites cases of industry shows like PHILCONSTRUCT and WORLDBEX in 2022 and 2023, respectively, which brought the local construction and building industry and its foreign counterparts face-to-face and virtually.

WTCMM linked the PHILCONSTRUCT show with buyers in China online, while buyers from Tianjin, China visited WORLDBEX.

“The financial closing will take about three to six months, so hopefully by the middle of 2024 the winning bidder can start the concession agreement,” he said.

The DOTr and the Manila International Airport Authority will serve as co-grantors for the project, which has a duration set for 15 years, with an option for a 10-year extension.

The NAIA privatization project aims to address longstanding issues at NAIA such as the inadequate capacity of passenger terminal buildings and restricted aircraft movement.

It also aims to increase the annual airport capacity from 35 million to at least 62 million passengers and raise air traffic movement from 40 to 48 per hour.

The project is also expected to improve the overall passenger experience and service quality to prevent long queues, lengthy waiting times and other passenger inconveniences.

The NEDA board, chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., earlier approved the solicited proposal to rehabilitate, operate expand and transfer the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It is now known as the Solicited NAIA PPP Project.

FLI has P9.03 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds maturing this year and another P1.7 billion worth of 10-year bonds maturing in 2024. The last time FLI tapped the bond market was in December 2021 when it raised P10 billion in fresh capital, consisting of four-year bonds due 2025 with interest rate of 4.5030 percent and six-year bonds due 2027 with interest rate of 5.2579 percent per annum. Jenniffer B. Austria

PAGCOR’s earnings climbed

35% to P36.2b in 6 months

STATE-RUN Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is on track to exceeding its pre-pandemic financial performance after its net income climbed 35.64 percent in the first half of 2023 to P36.21 billion from P26.70 billion a year ago.

PAGCOR chairman and chief executive Alejandro Tengco said income in the first six months were just P2.59 billion, or 6.68 percent, shy of its pre-pandemic output of P38.81 billion in 2019.

Tengco said it is highly possible to reach or surpass the agency’s pre-pandemic income by the end of 2023. He said the agency was expecting at least P272.74 billion in revenues this year.

“We have already hit approximately P136.37 billion gross gaming revenue or GGR in the first semester. With the favorable business environment that we have right now, we are hopeful that we can reach or even surpass our revenue targets and contribute more to nationbuilding,” he said.

“PAGCOR will certainly ride on the tide of our country’s economic growth. As economic activities reach pre-pandemic levels, we are optimistic that we can sustain the gaming industry’s growth momentum as we fortify our regulatory policies to attract more investors in the Philippines,” he said. Julito G. Rada Hydropower plants’ output to remain low at 50% in July

THE Department of Energy said Thursday the power generation of hydropower plants would remain at 50 percent below their capacity in July despite the recent heavy rains.

“It’s the same status of 50-percent deration this July, which will increase to 70-percent deration by December,” Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said.

She said the rains in the previous days were not enough to meet the water supply requirements of the hydro plants. “This third week of July is the potential yellow alert, and we are hoping it will not push through. The operations of the Ilijan plant helped,” Guevara said.

Guevera said the DOE was monitoring several hydropower plants and the impact of the El Niño dry spell on their generation capacity.

These are the 280-megawatt Angat, 720-MW Kalayaan, 345-MW Magat and 435-MW San Roque hydro facilities.

The DOE conducted a simulation, based on historical data and forecasts of El Niño’s impact on power generation and found that about 300 MW to 500 MW of hydro capacity would be affected.

“We are monitoring their [water] level that will determine their capacity to generate hydroelectric power,” Guevara said. Alena Mae S. Flores