DOTC to announce MCIA project bidding winner by month’s end

SHADES OF PIATCO. Sidharath Kapur, president and CFO for Airports Sector of the GMR Group, answers questions during a Senate inquiry on the bidding for the Mactan- Cebu International Airport passenger terminal on Tuesday.

The winning bidder of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) expansion project will be made known before the end of the month.

The House of Representatives yesterday started its probe on the MCIA fiasco. The Senate on the other hand called a hearing on the same issue on Tuesday.

Transportation Undersecretary Jose Lotilla, head of the Department of Transportation and Communication Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee, yesterday promised to update members of the House of Representatives on developments in their review of the complaint against Megawide Construction Corp. and Bengaluru, India-based GMR Infrastructure. Ltd., the highest bidder of the airport expansion project.

According to Cebu City north district Rep. Raul Del Mar, Lotilla told the House committee on transportation that they are  wrapping up their review and will determine  the winning bidder in the next few days so that the program of works on the  airport expansion project could be scheduled.

Another Cebuano legislator told Cebu Daily News that Lotilla begged off from discussing the status of their review on the conflict of interest complaint which the second highest bidder,  Filinvest Development Corp. and Singapore’s Changi Airport Group, filed against Megawide-GMR.

“They refuse to divulge as a matter of protocol because they are still in the process of review said Cebu 2nd district Rep. Wilfredo Caminero.

Members of the House committee chaired by Rep. Cesar Sarmiento of the lone district of Catanduanes invited DOTC officials to appear before the committee yesterday  at 9:30 a.m.

Del Mar made an introductory speech ahead of other Cebu legislators Rodrigo Abellanosa (Cebu City’s south district), Aileen Radaza (Lapu-Lapu City), Samsam Gullas (1st district),

Wilfredo Caminero (2nd district), Gwendolyn Garcia (3rd district), Benhur Salimbangon (4th district) and Joseph “Ace” Durano (5th district) and Luigi Quisumbing (6th district).
Cebuano legislators had filed House Resolution 782 which seeks to clarify allegations of conflict of interest and the lack of  financial resources regarding  Megawide-GMR.

The consortium offered P14.4 billion for the right to build the MCIA expansion project and beat the second highest bidder,  Filinvest Development Corp. and Singapore’s Changi Airport Group, which offered P13.999 billion.

Abellanosa said he is interested in learning “how much premium is put on the overall visual impact of the exterior and interior designs, on the guarantee on the kind of quality of materials to be used, on the minimum amount that will be invested in the construction, and on the efficiency parameters in the operations of the terminal.”

Abellanosa said he also wanted to know  how Megawide was able to “reap” three of the six major Public-Private Partnership projects of the national government.

Among the projects awarded to them were  a P13 billion school building project in regions 3 and 4 which is due for  completion on Feb. 28, 2014.
If Megawide is awarded the Mactan airport project, it will be their fourth out of seven PPP projects so far awarded.

This would  surely stretch their financial resources and could delay and jeopardize the entire Mactan airport terminal expansion project to the detriment of  Cebuanos and the Filipino people in general, he added.

Other than looking into the personalities involved and the bidding process, Caminero said, he is more interested in the reason for the delay in the  implementation of  the  airport expansion project.

The MCIA expansion project involves the construction and management of a new passenger terminal.

The existing  passenger terminal which has a capacity of 4.5 million visitors annually is already having problems coping with the latest recorded annual passenger traffic of over 6 million.