P-Noy to be at MCIA terminal groundbreaking

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III will attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the new terminal project at the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

In a statement, GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) chief executive advisor Andrew Acquaah Harrison said they will break ground on June 29.

“Last June 2, GMCAC started to clear the structures at PAF (Philippine Air Force). Clearing will take 10 to 15 days before foundation work would take place. T2 (Terminal 2) is expected to open by August 2018,” he said.

The groundbreaking ceremony, which marks the official start of construction, was initially scheduled on June 19, however, it was moved to June 29 for President Aquino, who cannot make it on the original schedule.

Based on the concession agreement, construction was supposed to start in January this year but had to be delayed for five months since the area where the terminal will be built was still occupied by PAF.

Replication project of the PAF facilities is currently ongoing and is set to be completed in 10 months.

Harrison however said that they proposed an interim solution by having PAF locate first at the Most Important Person (MIP) building while the replication project is not yet completed.

Once completed, the new terminal will add eight million annual capacity to the existing 4.5 million capacity in the old terminal.

Meanwhile, the GMCAC continues to implement improvements at the old terminal. The latest of which is the upgrades in their security including a security check, self-service kiosk, and innovative immigration counters.

The MCIA opened the new centralized security check last June 1. This aims to lessen passenger congestion at the final check-in counters of both domestic and international areas.

The Centralized Security Check will feature four X-ray machines that can be used interchangeably.