Senate probe sought on MCIA project

CEBU, Philippines - A Cebuano senator is calling for a Senate investigation into the delay in the awarding of the construction and 25-year management contract of the Mactan Cebu International Airport as he expressed fears that the Department of Transportation and Communications may award the project to a foreign firm with a questionable operating background and unstable financial standing.

Senator Sergio Osmeña III expressed alarm that the award of the MCIA contract to the consortium of GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India and Megawide Construction Corp. would cause a "grievous injury" not only to the people of Cebu but to "all future travelers to and from the Visayas and Mindanao."

 "As a Cebuano, I am very much concerned because if this project is done well, it could send the people of Cebu soaring to higher levels of tourism and other commercial activity and would result in more jobs and higher incomes for tens of thousands. If done badly, it could send our hopes and aspirations crashing to the ground, with serious repercussions on the national economy, and on our international image," Osmeña said.

 He added that should the project falter like the infamous PIATCO terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, it is not only the people of Cebu province but all Filipinos who would suffer the consequences. He revealed "serious misgivings" about the corporate competence of the GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India to carry out project, citing GMR's reported shaky financial standing and its partnership with the infamous German firm Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, also known as Fraport, which has previously figured in the scandalous PIATCO-NAIA 3 terminal project.

GMR is part of a consortium operating two airports in India; the Delhi airport and the Hyderabad airport. One of GMR's partners in the Delhi International Airports Ltd. project in India is the German firm Fraport, as shown in GMR infrastructure's annual report for 2011-12.

He also revealed that a report of the comptroller and auditor general of India found out that GMR-Delhi International Airport enjoyed post-contractual benefits that violated the tendering process which selected its joint venture partner.

 Osmeña also questioned GMR's financial capability to finance its P14.4-billion bid, citing various reports from prestigious foreign publications and large financial institutions abroad that "GMR's corporate finances stand on shaky ground.

In a report sent to The Freeman by Rafael Alas III from the Senate Journal Service, Osmeña called on the Senate Committee on Public Services to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, to find out, among other things, if the current process in undertaking public bidding fully protects the public interest.

"We further pray that this President for whose family the people of Cebu have always been overwhelmingly supportive will not saddle the Cebuanos for the next 25 years with a terminal that looks like a poultry farm managed by a consortium prone to operational and financial shortcuts. But to reward the Cebuano people with the best airport manager in the world - for 25 years! The people of Cebu, the Visayas and Mindanao deserve no less."-/FPL (FREEMAN)