MANILA – The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is set to bid out the construction of the new terminal building of Clark International Airport in the next few weeks, its president and chief executive officer Vivencio Dizon said Tuesday on the sidelines of a Department of Transportation event at the Philippine International Convention Center.
Dizon said the new Clark airport terminal will be BCDA’s first big ticket project to be tendered by the Duterte administration.
The P12.55-billion project will expand Clark airport terminal by 82,600 square meters to accommodate 8 million passengers annually.
The government targets to complete the construction of the new terminal building by 2019.
“The Clark Airport new terminal will be the first of the hybrid PPP (public-private partnership) model under the Duterte administration, where the government builds it and then the private sector will maintain and operate it,” Dizon told reporters.
Dizon also said the project will be fully funded by the BCDA. He noted that this hybrid model will result in lower airport charges to passengers as the infrastructure is funded by the government; meanwhile, the government also has a percentage in the earnings of the private sector from the airport operation.
The BCDA chief said a few weeks after the bidding for the Clark airport expansion project, the tender for the operation and maintenance of the new terminal building will follow.
Dizon said the business community is very interested in this project as the number of flights in the Clark airport increased during the Duterte administration.
Dizon noted that Clark airport only had seven domestic and 100 international flights weekly before this administration assumed office.
Clark airport now has 120 domestic and 138 international flights per week, the official said. “What does it tell us? It tells us that if the government shows the will and the decision to do something, the private sector reacts positively,” Dizon said.
