Philippine court orders payment to airport builder

MANILA: The Philippine Supreme Court has ordered the government to pay at least $510.3 million in compensation and interest to a consortium led by German airport operator Fraport AG that built Manila’s newest airport terminal.
The decision, issued Tuesday but made public Wednesday, ends years of legal wrangling over how much Philippine International Air Terminals Co. should receive after the government expropriated Terminal 3, built by the consortium at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The court said the government cannot gain title to the terminal until the consortium is fully paid.
Most of the construction of the terminal was completed in 2002. A year later the Supreme Court nullified the contract after finding that the consortium did not have the minimum equity needed to qualify for the project and had also violated other terms of the original concession agreement.
Under the contract, the consortium would have been able to operate the terminal for 25 years. Instead, the government sought and received a writ of possession in December 2004.