RAUL DEL MAR
THE House of Representatives is stepping into the Mactan Cebu International Airport expansion project controversy.
The House committee on transportation chairman Rep. Cesar Sarmiento of the lone district of Catanduanes has scheduled an inquiry on the airport controversy at 9:30 a.m. on March 12, a day before the lower house takes a break.
Cebu City north district Rep. Raul Del Mar said, “We want to ask during the hearing what is now the status of the project. We are always hearing the two highest bidders talk but never DOTC.”
Del Mar added proponents of HB 782 also wanted clarification on whether the airport expansion project has been awarded to a winning bidder.
“If they say naa nay findings ilang investigation on the complaint against MGR and if they say the complaint has basis what will happen next? They have to resolve the issue because we can’t move forward unless it’s resolved,” Del Mar said.
Del Mar shares the fear of other Cebuano legislators that the expansion project may face more delays if the controversy reaches the courts.
He said that a second hearing will have to be scheduled by the transportation committee members when congress resumes its session after the Holy Week and this time hear the bidders’ take on the airport expansion project, said del Mar.
“We have also requested that the second hearing be held in Cebu,” he said.
Cebu legislators Raul del Mar (Cebu City’s north district), Rodrigo Abellanosa (Cebu City’s south district), Aileen Radaza (Lapu-Lapu City), Joseph “Ace” Durano (fifth district), Benhur
Salimbangon (fourth district), Gwendolyn Garcia (third district), Wilfredo Caminero (second district) filed House Resolution 782 which seeks to clarity to allegations of conflict of interest and lack in financial resources against the highest bidder, Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure. Ltd.
The consortium offered P14.4 billion for the right to build the MCIA expansion project and beat the second highest bidder, the Filinvest Development Corp. and Singapore’s Changi Airport Group, which offered P13.999 billion.
House Resolution 782 urged the House committee on transportation to conduct an inquiry on allegations made by losing bidders that Megawide-GMR is not qualified to bid for the project being built under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program.
“The DOTC Pre-Qualification, Bids and Awards Committee has reportedly delayed awarding the project to any bidder, pending completion of the post-qualification review of the highest bidder for alleged violation of the rule against conflict of interest under the bid rules,” said HB 782.
The committee on transportation has jurisdiction on issues concerning land, sea, and air transportation and all public utilities and services connected thereto, as well as the establishment, operation, management and regulation of airports, seaports and other mass transportation systems including light and heavy rail systems and roll on – roll off systems (RO-RO),civil aviation, air transport agreements, transportation safety standards, air transport security, maritime security, ballast water management, ship financing, ship mortgage, maritime liens and transportation related insurance.