DOTC clears all bidders for Cebu airport project

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has cleared all the prequalified bidders and their respective foreign partners to submit bids for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu international airport expansion project today.

Michael Arthur Sagcal, DOTC spokesperson, said the seven prequalified bidders are expected to submit technical and financial bids for the Aquino administration’s first airport project under the public private partnership (PPP) scheme.

“We know that the world is watching. This is the acid test for our PPP program.  The higher the turnout, the more credibility it will mean for our projects,” Sagcal said.

The seven bidders pre-qualified by the agency last May 15 include the MPIC-JGS Airport consortium led by the companies of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and JG Summit Holdings of taipan John Gokongwei; San Miguel Corp.-Incheon Airport consortium; AAA Airport Partners led by the conglomerate Ayala Group and Cebu-based Aboitiz Land; the Filinvest-CAI Airport consortium; the Lopez groups’ First Philippine Airports; the GMR Infrastructure and Megawide consortium; and the Premier Airport Group of SM Group of retail magnate Henry Sy.

The roster of foreign airport operators includes ADC & HAS of Houston Airport, Malaysia Airports Berhad, Singapore’s Changi Airport, South Korea’s Incheon Airport, France’s Aeroports de Lyon, Switzerland’s Zurich Airport, India’s Delhi Airports.

MPIC earlier asked the DOTC to look into the participation of Incheon in partnership with SMC since Korean firm conducted the feasibility study and master plan of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in 2010.

“It’s not a complaint, we just pointed out that. I believed that Incheon did a feasibility study on the airport and submitted that study to the government, as I understand. So we we’re just raising that something the government might want to note because they could on both sides of the transactions,” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said earlier.

Last Nov. 21, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board chaired by President Aquino approved seven major infrastructure projects including changes to the concession agreements to make the projects more attractive to interested bidders.

Several key improvements to the terms of the Mactan-Cebu international airport expansion project were approved by the NEDA Board making it more attractive to bidders and encouraging more competitive proposals. 

These include extending the concession period from 20 years to 25 years, including the operation of the apron or aircraft parking area in the project scope, and imposing a 25-year ban on the operation of competing airports within the province of Cebu apart from the Bantayan and Camotes Islands.

The project would modernize the country’s second-largest aviation hub with the construction of a new world-class international passenger terminal building with an annual capacity of eight million passengers and at the same time expand the existing terminal building with a capacity of 4.5 million and has been operating at over-capacity with 6.7 million passengers since 2012.