Mactan to serve as model for 5 other regional airports

Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emelio Abaya (4th from left) leads government officials as well as Mactan airport and GMR-Megawide executives during last Friday’s ceremonial pouring of cement for the construction of Terminal 2 of the Mactan-Cebu International Airpot. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya said the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will auction off the public-private partnership (PPP) contracts for five airports in the Visayas and Mindanao on February 29.

Development of the five airports will be patterned after that of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), which is undergoing upgrading for P17 billion by concessionaire GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. under a PPP contract.

“What we did to Mactan-Cebu, we want to do for those airports,” Abaya said at the sidelines of the ceremonial concrete pouring for the Terminal 2 of Mactan airport last Friday.

“We want to bring in new technology, more efficient procedures. Mas maganda ang experience ng ating mga kababayan (our fellow Filipinos will have a better experience),” Abaya added.

GMR-Megawide, a joint venture of the Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure and Filipino construction company Megawide Corp., has been pre-qualified to bid for the five other airport PPP contracts.

Abaya said the airports will be divided into two bundles. The first will consist of Iloilo and Bacolod while the second will consist of Laguindingan, Panglao and Davao. Development of all five airports is estimated to cost P106 billion.

Abaya said airport operators can choose to bid for both bundles or only one bundle. “One winner can take it all,” the DOTC secretary said.

GMR-Megawide chief executive advisor Andrew Acquaah Harrison said they will participate in the bidding. “Our main priority will still be MCIA but we’ll expand our capability so we can manage all the airports,” he said.

UPDATE

Construction of MCIA’s Terminal 2 (T2) is on schedule.

Harrison said they hope to deliver it even earlier than its target of February 2018. The ceremonial concrete pouring last January 22 not only marks a milestone for

MCIA, but also signals the government’s complete turnover of the airport to the operator, Abaya said.

“As I see it, all obligations of the government finally comes to an end. We will be full time regulators, and we will be watching over GMCAC,” the executive said.

The Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) turned over the management and operation of the passenger terminal to GMR-Megawide in November 2014, about six months after the concession agreement was signed.

The new facility, which will become the international passenger terminal, will nearly triple Mactan airport’s capacity to 12.5 million from the current 4.5 million. The existing terminal currently serves more than 7 million passengers annually.

“We have a monumental task ahead of us,” said GMCAC president Louie Ferrer, referring to the construction of the second terminal, a three-story structure with a gross floor area of over 65,000 square meters.

NEW FLIGHTS

Meanwhile, a direct flight from Cebu to Xiamen, China will be opened by March 30, alongside the three other new international flights to Dubai, Los Angeles, and Taipei.

“There have been charters in the past but this is the first scheduled flight,” Harrison said.

He said Xiamen Air may start servicing the route even earlier than end of March. The airline has scheduled flights thrice a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. The airline will provide an Airbus 321, which can carry around 200 passengers.

“This opens the market to us directly for China,” Harrison said. Other international airlines scheduled to operate in MCIA by March are Emirates Air and Eva Air.