Andrew Acquaah-Harrison, deputy chief executive officer of GMR, presents an aerial view of their vision for the new Mactan Cebu International Airport Terminal. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
The highest bidder for the contract to build the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) expansion project said that they will secure a loan to bankroll the P17.5 billion project.
Andrew Acquaah Harrison, GMR deputy CEO, said three local and international banks responded to their request for funding assistance for the MCIA project.
Harrison and Louie Ferrer, chief marketing officer and vice president of Megawide, presided over the media presentation in Cebu City.
About 70 percent of the project will be funded from bank loans while the remaining 30 percent will come from internal fund sources of the GMR-Megawide Consortium.
“We have secured funding for the entire project,” Harrison said in response to doubts on their financial capability to implement the project.
Harrison said GMR has gross assets of $10 million and enjoys an investment grade rating of BBB+ for long-term loans and an A2 rating for short-term loans.
“GMR Group has never defaulted on any loan obligations,” he added.
In comparison, Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) has total assets of P253 billion and is currently engaged in 100 projects nationwide. The MCIA project is their first airport project in partnership with Changi Airport Group (CAG) which manages Singapore’s Changi Airport, one of the world’s most awarded airports.
FDC’s complaint remains pending with the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) whose top officials promised to resolve the matter before the month ends. The Senate is holding a second hearing on the airport expansion project next week.
The GMR-Megawide Consortium is building terminal II beside the airport’s terminal I in three years. The project will include a facelift of the existing terminal building.
The FDC-Changi consortium, for its part, is proposing to build an integrated terminal operation with a touch of local architecture integrated into their design of Terminal Building II.