BIZ BUZZ: Naia e-gates rollout delayed

While San Miguel group-led New Naia Infra Corp. is rushing to execute its master plan to improve operations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), all eyes are on the government to deliver its fair share.

For people who travel overseas, whether inbound or outbound, one of the major pain points at Naia is that immigration lines can sometimes go crazy. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has already expanded the pool of immigration officers at Naia, but there’s only so much traffic that human personnel can handle.

Five years ago, the BI started installing e-gates to speed up the immigration arrival clearing process. Earlier this year, plans were announced to procure additional e-gates, with an estimate that by 2026, a total of 43 e-gates would be installed nationwide in a project estimated to cost P1.9 billion. These e-gates are supposed to cut processing time to as low as eight seconds per passenger, comparable with airports in other countries.

But where are the additional e-gates?

“It’s been canceled,” a well-placed industry source told Biz Buzz, referring to the P1.9-billion procurement. “Supposedly, they should have been deployed this December.”

The project is now being recalibrated, but there’s a catch. “We heard that the budget is now five times higher,” the source added.