EDITORIAL - A big setback

Just when it's all systems go for the expansion of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, the Department of Transportation and Communications postponed the issuance of the notice of award to the contractor.

This after the losing bidder, Filinvest-Changi Airport consortium, sought to disqualify the winning bidder, Megawide Construction Corp.-GMR Infrastructure Limited. Filinvest-Changi questioned the capability of the winning bidder to execute the project.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide, a member of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority board, said issues surrounding the bidding should first be settled before the notice of award can be issued.

This development is the latest setback in the effort to upgrade the country's second largest airport. And the government should immediately solve this problem otherwise it would have to start from the scratch.

The development of the Mactan airport has long been overdue. In fact, it should have been modernized a long time ago when economic and tourism activities in Cebu and neighboring areas started to pick up.

Today, the airport is running way beyond its capacity, accommodating at least six million passengers a year. Without any immediate rehabilitation and expansion, it would just be a matter of time before it would no longer be at par with international airport standards.

With hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting the Visayas yearly, Mactan airport holds a vital role for their easy travel to their destinations. This makes the airport one of the most important infrastructures outside Metro Manila.

In fact, the reason why Cebu has been chosen as one of the best places in the world for foreigners to retire is the fact that it has an international airport that retirees can always use when they fly back to their home countries.

Upgrading the Mactan airport has not only become very urgent in the face of a massive wave of tourists who make Cebu their ultimate destination. It has also become necessary to complement Cebu's unprecedented economic development.