by Kevin Rozario (London, United Kingdom)
The Philippines is a hotspot for airport deals and development right now, with several of them centred around the sprawling capital city of Manila. Four projects – at Bulacán, Clark, Ninoy Aquino International, and Sangley – have seen some movement either on concession approvals, following delays due to COVID19, or construction.
As detailed in our Oct. 2019 article entitled “Philippines: The Playground of Unsolicited Proposals”, including the Manila-area, there are roughly a dozen unsolicited proposals in various stages of review and award across the county.
Among the various priorities of the Rodrigo Duterte administration there has been an unswerving focus on infrastructure. Since the controversial president entered office in June 2016 the ‘Build! Build! Build!’ initiative has been expanded to more than 100 programmes including the airport projects above, however in many cases, implementation has dragged and the aviation sector is no exception.