Tourism players urged: Continue selling Cebu

A Philippine Airlines aircraft taxies to the Mactan Cebu International Airport runway as it prepares to fly to Osaka, Japan from the Mactan airport in this December 2014 photo. If plans will push through, the Mactan airport will have a second runway and a third terminal.
CDN FILE PHOTO

2ND RUNWAY, 3RD TERMINAL BID WELCOMED

Continue to promote Cebu to both foreign and domestic markets as a way to maximize opportunities, especially if the proposal to build a second runway and a third terminal of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) will push through.

Melanie Ng, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, made this call as she welcomed the proposal to build these infrastructure projects, which are needed in the province.

Ng said that any development that will spur economic growth in the province is much welcomed.

“It would be prudent, though, to coordinate with the DOTr (Department of Transportation) and the MCIA Authority (MCIAA) for these proposals as they’re the governing bodies for the airport,” she said.

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), the private consortium presently running the MCIA, last June 7 submitted to the government a P208-billion unsolicited offer to build a second runway and a third passenger terminal in a bid to transform the gateway into a global hub.

Ng said that with more capacity, there will be more opportunities, leading to continued growth in the economy.

Address traffic, too

Gordon Alan Joseph, president of the Cebu Business Club, meanwhile, said there is also a need to address issues on traffic, smoke belching, and the lack of pedestrian-friendly cities and towns in the province, as these are not conducive for tourism.

He cited the need to build more Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibits (MICE) capabilities, emphasizing that all of these have to be met if the aim was to have a world-class tourist destination that is in consonance with airport goals.

Donato Busa, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry past president, also welcomed the proposed projects.

“This is good for Cebu. We have a (air) traffic problem already with only one runway. Having an additional runway would be an advantage as we will be better off than Manila,” said Busa.

The airport concessionaire’s proposal, however, would eventually require a competitive challenge.

Key feature

According to an Inquirer report, one key feature of the proposal would also allow GMR-Megawide to assume airside operations currently handled by the government, a first of this scale in the country.

“Any expansion is really good for tourism. Cebu is now one of the centers of trade and commerce in the Philippines and even in Southeast Asia,” said Edilberto Mendoza, past president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos).

Mendoza said expanding the gateway is always a welcome idea. As to how and who will build the facilities will be up to the government to decide, Mendoza added.

Critical to tourism

Local businessman Edwin Ortiz, who is also part of the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) Tourism Promotions Board, said any development for the improvement of the MCIA is very critical to Cebu’s tourism industry.

“Many tourists want to come over, but our current airport has difficulty accommodating,” Ortiz said.

He said that with passenger traffic at the airport projected to double and even triple in the coming years, it is a good idea that these projects are already being considered as early as now.

GMCAC is set to open a new passenger terminal by June 2018 that will increase the airport’s capacity to 12.5 million passengers annually (mppa) from the current 4.5 million.

The consortium’s new offer takes a longer-term view as the group wants to grow the capacity to 50 million passengers annually, a move that would likely require the reclamation of land to build new facilities.

Passenger traffic

“Our studies show that passenger traffic in Cebu will reach about 28 mppa in 2039,” GMR-Megawide director Louie Ferrer was quoted as saying in the report, adding that this traffic is similar to major Asian hubs such as in Singapore, New Delhi, and Kuala Lumpur.

Ferrer added that investments were needed to be made now in order to get ahead of congestion issues such as the ones experienced by travelers at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Since airside facilities will be turned over to the private sector, the consortium said it could move quickly to rehabilitate the existing runway and taxiways as well as build additional infrastructure, including a second runway.

The MCIAA recently expressed its desire to have a second runway at the MCIA, something which Ferrer said dovetails perfectly with the current administration’s directives.

Project schedule

Should the government accept the offer, the rehabilitation of existing facilities will be done from 2018 to 2022 while the reclamation and construction of the second runway is targeted between 2022 to 2030.

The final phase will be the construction of a third terminal slated for 2036 onward.

The consortium bagged the MCIA contract in 2014 under a 25-year concession deal that was considered among the more successful public private partnership (PPP) projects. This new proposal is a 50-year plan and would thus extend that concession period.