In an interview with Punto!, Luciano said that the loan could be classified as “overseas development assistance” proposed by Seoul authorities for the terminal which Pres. Arroyo wants completed in March 2010 or before her term ends later in the same year.
“It will be a liberal soft kind of loan with an interest of only 0.1 (point one) percent and a grace period of 10 years,” Luciano said.
He also said that the loan would be payable in 40 years and would be “untied”, explaining that the Korean creditor would not impose terms on the airport terminal project implementation.
It will not be like the railway project loan from the Chinese Export-Import Bank which named a Chinese contractor for the project, he noted.
Luciano said that the amount of loan would depend on the results of another bidding for the construction of the terminal, following the failure of the latest bidding wherein an American firm won.
Earlier, CIAC announced it is again accepting “unsolicited proposals” from firms interested in constructing the new DMIA terminal. CIAC officials said that from the initial P6.5 billion, the minimum bid has been reduced to only P4 billion.
Luciano said, however, that entertaining unsolicited proposals is only one of the several options now being pursued to make sure the terminal project is started soon.
Amid the scrapping of the bid of the US-based Admiral Energy LLC which had failed to “show sufficient proof” of its track record and experience in operating international passenger terminals, Luciano said he remained confident that the DMIA will have a state-of-the-art passenger terminal by March 31, 2010.
The other week, CIAC gave the green light for its joint venture selection committee (JVSC) to accept proposals from firms, as part of the various options it has taken to see to it that the terminal project is started soon.
But CIAC vice-president for administration and finance Romeo Dyoco, chairman of the JVSC said “CIAC is currently studying various options for the construction of a new terminal for DMIA”.
“The options are: the unsolicited proposal via a joint venture; a joint venture between a private group through a second bidding; and by securing funds through the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) or through other loans and equity so as to facilitate the project,” he said.
Dyoco said the CIAC board instructed the JVSC “to pursue Annex C under the JV (Joint Venture) Guidelines on Competitive Challenge Procedure which would simplify and fast track the development of the Terminal 2 project for DMIA.”
“The CIAC has simplified some requirements so as to facilitate and attract investors for the project,” he noted.
He said under Annex C of the JV Guidelines, “the capacity of the Terminal 2 has been reduced to a minimum requirement of 3 million passengers per year instead of the previous 7 million passengers capacity for the new terminal project of the airport”.
“Under the project, Terminal 2 will occupy 11.9 hectares of land inside 2,500-hectare Clark Civil Aviation Complex,” he added.
He also said that “the minimum investment for the terminal 2 project has been reduced to P4 billion from the previous P6.5 billion and this is “meant is to attract investors for the Terminal 2 Project.”
“Under the joint venture scheme, CIAC has a 30 percent stake while the proponent will have 70 percent ownership. There is a competitive challenge among potential investors who will be obliged to produce the best offer to build, design, finance, equip and operate the Terminal 2 before 2010,” he added.
Pres. Arroyo has instructed CIAC officials to finish the modern terminal project by 2010 amid plans to eventually transform it into the country’s premiere international gateway.
Only recently, she was here to lead in the groundbreaking rites for the $100-million aviation facility of the SIA Engineering Company of Singapore. During the event, she asked Luciano to fast track the development of the modern terminal.
This, even as CIAC is rushing with its review of the terms of reference (TOR) for the project.
Dyoco said the CIAC board has given his committee until the end of this month to study all of the options for the development of the Terminal 2 project.
