MANILA, Philippines — Megawide Construction Corp. has officially appealed to the government for the reinstatement of its original proponent status (OPS) for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) rehabilitation project following its revocation last week.
Megawide submitted yesterday to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) a motion for reconsideration on the OPS it was previously awarded for its P109-billion unsolicited proposal to upgrade and transform the country’s main international gateway.
“Megawide GMR consortium is hereby respectfully requesting for the reconsideration of the MIAA board resolution revoking Megawide GMR Consortium’s OPS for the NAIA project, and pray for the reinstatement of such OPS,” it said.
Megawide in its letter appealed for equal treatment, saying that the government had negotiated with earlier proponents – the so-called NAIA Super Consortium – for two years for the NAIA project.
“It would be in keeping with good practice and fair play for us to be also afforded a reasonable period within which to negotiate with the government and submit all the necessary documents to show our capabilities,” Megawide said.
“Since the issuance of our OPS in July 2020, it has only been five months till the MIAA board’s decision to revoke the OPS. We therefore believe that our additional submission in November/December must be considered and we appeal to the government for reconsideration on this matter,” it said.
Megawide said all the necessary documents to prove its financial capability were also submitted to MIAA and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) weeks before the MIAA board decided to revoke its OPS.
The company reiterated that even as a sole proponent, it is fully capable of sustaining the financing requirements of the NAIA project in phases.
Megawide said a decision to involve partner GMR of India as an equity partner and not just a technical partner was done to reinforce its financial capability and settle all the issues raised in a joint letter of the Department of Finance and the National Economic and Development Authority–Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) dated Nov. 19 to the DOTr.
The joint letter said the submitted unsolicited proposal and project documents of Megawide have been returned in view of the findings of the ICC Secretariat’s evaluation that the proponent’s equity position is insufficient to finance the equity requirement of the proposed project.
Megawide said it submitted on Nov. 20 supporting documents that include a joint and solidary agreement executed by the consortium members, as well as revised computation of the consortium’s financial qualifications.
On Dec. 1, the company said it again wrote MIAA to reiterate its financial qualifications.
“All these submissions when evaluated in full, comply with the equity requirements mentioned in the joint letter in toto,” Megawide said.
“Since these documents were submitted before the MIAA decision was made, the decision naturally was based on an incomplete set of facts/documents. As a result, the decision should be reconsidered in light of new and material information addressing the very issue raised prompting MIAA’s decision,” it said.
Megawide’s appeal is expected to be taken up in MIAA’s next board meeting.
MIAA general manager Ed Monreal last week said that since the decision to revoke Megawide’s OPS was a MIAA board decision, any move to re-award the OPS to the company would require a board approval.
“On the part of MIAA, since the OPS is a board action, should Megawide come up with a reconsideration, we will present it to the board so that the board can act on it favorably or not,” he said.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the door remains open for Megawide and any appeal from their part would be welcomed by the government.
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Article and Photo originally posted by Philippine Star last December 22, 2020 12:00am and written by Richmond Mercurio. Minor edits have been made by REBPH to cater to its own readers.
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