In a week or so, the contract for the expansion of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) will be awarded to the winning bidder, a move that will end the row between the top two bidders of the P17.5 billion project.
Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya said he expects the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to come up with a resolution this week, after which, the recommendation will go to his office and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) board for approval.
“I will be waiting for it (resolution) by this week or next week. It won’t take longer than next week for sure because they told me it is almost done.”
“As of now, the next step is to come up with a resolution and it will be awarded within the month,” he told reporters yesterday.
Abaya was in Cebu City to inaugurate the newly-rehabilitated passenger terminal in Cebu City ports pier 1. He said he is “one with the Cebuanos” in the resolution of the contract awarding” as soon as possible.”
Last January, the DOTC announced that Megawide Consortium-India’s GMR Infrastructure Inc. got the highest bid, followed by Filinvest-Singapore Changi group.
Since the complaint filed by Filinvest, the announcement of the winning bidder has been delayed.
The Megawide Consortium-GMR gave the highest bid of P14.4 billion which is P400 million higher than the Filinvest-Singapore Changi Group.
After the announcement of the winning bidder, the losing bidder can still pursue legal remedies to contest the decision of the BAC, said Abaya.
But he added that this may not result in further delays as the project is a national project and only the Supreme Court can order the project stopped.
“The Supreme Court is the only entity that can issue a TRO and stop the process.”
“If there is no TRO then we will proceed,” added Abaya.