THE DEPARTMENT of Transportation (DoTr) is eyeing to start the process of selecting a company to manage and operate the Davao International Airport in the first half of 2025, the Transport chief said.

“We are still working on the terms of reference,” Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista told reporters last week.

“Remember that we just signed the transaction advisory services agreement with IFC (International Finance Corp.). I think this will be by next year, maybe by the first half,” he added.

Mr. Bautista said the DoTr prefers a solicited mode as it will be faster than an unsolicited one. “Just like NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), it only took about 13 months. Unlike unsolicited proposals, which will take about two years.”

Last month, the Transportation department signed a transaction advisory service agreement with the IFC to expedite the project.

The DoTr said that the agreement will outline the best approach to upgrade, expand, operate, and maintain the airport.

Previously, Mr. Bautista said that a conglomerate had expressed interest in submitting an unsolicited proposal to manage and operate Davao International Airport.

Davao airport is expected to attract significant interest from potential bidders, as it is the third largest airport after NAIA and Mactan-Cebu International Airport, according to Nigel Paul C. Villarete, senior adviser on PPP at Libra Konsult, Inc.

“PPP’s through unsolicited mode, though allowed by law, places the agency at a slight disadvantage inasmuch as it’s the private sector proponent who writes down the terms first.  It is also less attractive to more bidders since the original proponent has the right to match any other bidder better than theirs,” he noted.

Rene S. Santiago, former president of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, said the bidding for the modernization and operation of Davao airport is long overdue.

“Davao airport was already lined up for PPP about 10 years ago. Derailed by flawed conception and waylaid by an unsolicited proposal from a group without capacity for such a venture,” he said in a Viber message. — Ashley Erika O. Jose