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MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The bidding for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion project is postponed until further notice, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) announced Tuesday, August 27.
The bidding, originally scheduled for Wednesday, August 28, was moved as the agency has yet to finalize the terms of the contract for the project, said DOTC spokesperson Michael Sagcal.
“[Bidding] won’t push through tomorrow. It will be scheduled 30 days after the final version of the concession agreement is released to bidders,” he said.
Seven groups of Filipino and foreign firms were prequalified to join the bidding. These groups include:
- Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. (joint venture), with Aeroports de Lyon
- AAA Airport Partners (joint venture of Ayala Land and Aboitiz Equity Ventures), with ADC & HAS Airports Inc.
- Filinvest and Changi Airports Mena Pte. Ltd.
- San Miguel Corp. and Lucio Tan group (joint venture), and Incheon Airport International Corp.
- First Philippine Airports (consortium of Lopez-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. and Infratil Asia Ltd.
- Henry Sy’s Premier Airport Group and Zurich Airport International AG
- Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. (joint venture)
This is the second time that bidding for a big-ticket Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project was delayed.
The P60-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite extension project, the largest PPP so far under the Aquino administration, will likely be bid out again as the technical proposal submitted by lone bidder Metro Pacific Investments Corp. failed to comply with requirements.
Terms to be finalized end-Aug
PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the DOTC’s special bids and awards committee (SBAC) decided to move the bidding for the Cebu airport as prequalified groups asked for more time to finalize their proposals.
Canilao said bidders asked that the bidding commence 45 to 75 days from the issuance of the final concession agreement. The agreement will be finalized end of August, she said.
Canilao said bidders raised some issues regarding the commercial, design and technical aspects of the project.
The SBAC, she added, will address the issues raised by the bidders to avoid a failure of bidding.
“SBAC will consider the best compromise to give to the bidders.”
TRO did not cause delay
Sagcal meanwhile said the deferment of the Cebu airport expansion bidding was not caused by a petition filed before the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court to stop the project.
Danilo Cruz, a resident of Hagonoy, Bulacan earlier asked the Mandaluyong court to stop the DOTC from conducting the bidding for the “seemingly illegal… one-on-one meetings” with bidders.
But Sagcal said, “no, it has nothing to do with the complaint.” Only the Supreme Court could issue a temporary restraining order on the project, Transportation secretary Jun Abaya earlier clarified.
The project
The Cebu airport project involves the upkeep of old and new facilities and the construction of a new passenger terminal with capacity of 8 million passengers per year.
The airport’s existing terminal has a capacity of 4.5 million passengers per year.
The airport sits on a 797-hectare property, and has a single 3,300-meter runway and a full-length taxiway.
It is the country’s second busiest gateway, next to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. – with reports from Cherrie Regalado, Rappler.com
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