Bid documents of four private consortia were submitted Wednesday, setting in motion the modernization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Mega consortia, including the Manila International Airport Consortium, Asian Airport Consortium, GMR Airports Consortium, and SMC SAP & Co. Consortium submitted their bids.

According to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, the modernization of the NAIA with the help of the private sector will increase its capacity to 60 million passengers annually.

Bautista said the airport handles at least 50 million passengers despite its maximum capacity of only 32 million passengers.

The transport chief noted that during the Christmas rush, the airport was overwhelmed with 145,000 daily passengers ? way beyond its capacity limits.

“We all know this airport is already congested with only a capacity of 32 million but handling almost 50 million passengers,” Bautista said.

“In the last few days, we are averaging 145,000 passengers daily during the holidays. We’re expecting that when this airport is turned over to the private sector, we will increase its capacity to 60 million passengers per annum,” he added.

Wednesday’s bidding will determine the qualifications of each bidder, with the technical and financial review to follow later.

Conglomerates from Aboitiz InfraCapital, Ayala’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp., Alliance Global-Infracorp, Filinvest, and JG Summit Holdings form the Manila International Airport Consortium.

Asian Airport Consortium is composed of Asian Infrastructure and Management Corp., Cosco Capital Inc., Philippine Skylanders, Inc., and PT Angkasa Pura II.

Also joining the bidding were GMR Airports International B.V., Cavitex Holdings, Inc. and House of Investments, Inc. of GMR Airports Consortium; as well as SMC SAP Company Consortium, which is formed by San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics, Inc., RLW Aviation Development, Inc. and Incheon International Airport Corp. DOTr