DOTC sets bid for Cebu airport Nov. 15

MANILA, Philippines - The bidding for the P17.5 billion Mactan Cebu International Airport project will push through on Nov. 15, an official of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said.

In a statement, DOTC spokesman Michael Arthur Sagcal said the bidding for the multi-billion peso project has been moved to November to give the prequalified bidders at least two months to prepare their proposals.

“We have been working hard to find the balance between government and private sector interests.  This gives sufficient time for the bidders to finalize their proposals,” Sagcal said.

The DOTC is seeking the green light from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to improve the attractiveness of the project.

According to him, the government would now shoulder the payment of certain real property taxes and at the same time has extended the period of the concession agreement to 25 years instead of 20 years.

The proposed amendments, he said, were reached during the one-on-one meetings conducted by the agency’s special bids and awards committee (SBAC) with the seven prequalified bidders over the past few months.

The DOTC has pre-qualified seven groups, namely AAA Airport Partners led by conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Cebu-based Aboitiz Equity Ventures together with Houston airport operator ADC&HAS; Filinvest-CAI Consortium of taipan Andrew Gotianun together with Singapore’s Changi Airport; Lopez-led First Philippine Airports together with New Zealand’s Infratil Asia Limited; GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Consortium that includes India’s Delhi Airport; MPIC-JGS Airport Consortium composed of the tandem of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and JG Summit Holdings of tycoon John L. Gokongwei Jr. together with Aeroports de Lyon of France; SM-led Premier Airport Group of retail magnate Henry Sy together with Switzerland’s Zurich Airport operators; and San Miguel-Incheon Airport Consortium of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and the operator of South Korea’s Incheon Airport.

“Based on the active participation of all seven pre-qualified groups in the one-on-one meetings, the transport agency anticipates that the bid proposals will be more competitive, resulting in better bid offers to government,” Sagcal said.

The deadline for the submission of the technical and financial proposals of the prequalified bidders was last Aug. 27 but several revisions in the concession agreement prompted the DOTC to postpone the deadline by another 30 days.

The PPP project aims to modernize the country’s second-largest aviation hub and the gateway to the Visayas with the construction of a new world-class international passenger terminal building with a capacity of eight million passengers.