CCCI to DOTC: Award airport project now

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) has urged the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to immediately resolve the issues affecting the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) expansion project.

The CCCI also pressed the DOTC to award the project as soon as possible as Cebu needs the project very badly, especially that there is going to be an Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Cebu next year.

"Although, this will not be finished by then, we need to show that there are major infrastructure developments, as we are trying to attract more visitors to Cebu," said CCCI president Lito Maderazo, during his visit at the Capitol.

He visited Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, who sits as member of the MCIAA Board of Directors, to brief the latter on the activities of the chamber comes June, when they celebrate the Cebu Business Month.

A major highlight of the activity is tourism and investment promotion.

Maderazo said they are inviting the Capitol to participate with the private sector to take the lead in enticing more investors to locate in the province.

Tourism and countryside development also happens to be one of the governor's priorities in his administration.

Aside from the airport, Maderazo also mentioned traffic problems in the province that should be addressed.

If travel time from the cities to the municipalities could be lessened, more tourists would be attracted to travel to the countryside, he said.

The DOTC has postponed the issuance of notice of award to the contractor of the new passenger terminal of the MCIA.

The DOTC was supposed to award the project on Jan. 6 and to seal the contract by Jan. 27, with the concession agreement scheduled for signing on Feb. 6.

But a losing bidder, the Filinvest-Changi Airport consortium, asked DOTC to  disqualify the tandem of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. as winning bidder.

Filinvest-Changi questioned the qualification of Megawide and GMR, which posted the highest bid of P14.4-billion for the P17.5-billion MCIA deal.

Davide is hoping the issues would be resolved soon to prevent more delay in the implementation of the project, which is under a private-public partnership scheme.

The project involves the construction of a world-class international passenger terminal at the MCIA, and renovation and expansion of the existing terminal. (FREEMAN)