DOTC to defer bids deadline for Cebu airport project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is set to defer the deadline for the submission of bids for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion project after failing to get the green light to amend the terms of the public-private partnership (PPP) project.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the scheduled meeting of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) yesterday was called off due to the relief efforts being undertaken by the Aquino administration in provinces ravaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda last Friday.

The NEDA Board chaired by President Aquino was supposed to approve the changes to the concession agreement to make the project more viable and attractive to interested bidders.

The deadline for the submission of bids for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion project is scheduled on Nov. 15.

 â€œIt will likely be postponed. No date (has been set yet),” Abaya said in a text message.

The PPP project aims to modernize the country’s second-largest aviation hub and the gateway to the Visayas with the construction of a new world-class international passenger terminal building with a capacity of eight million passengers.

The project also included the renovation of the existing terminal building that has been operating at over-capacity with 6.7 million passengers going through the 4.5-million passenger capacity structure in 2012.

The DOTC through Special Bid Bulletin 15 – 2013 and 16 – 2013 issued by Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetuo Lotilla further sweetened the concession agreement to make it more attractive to interested investors.

To further sweeten the terms of the project, the government is set to impose a 25-year moratorium on the construction of new airports and upgrading the status of existing airports in the islands of Cebu and Mactan to international investors.