Osmeña threatens to sue contractor of Cebu airport

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Sergio Osmeña has threatened to sue the foreign contractor of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport once the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) pursues the deal, which he described as dubious. 

“If the DOTC awards this and gives this to GMR, I’ll take them to court. The DOTC did not do its job,” Osmeña said yesterday.

Two weeks ago, Osmeña expressed alarm over the alleged awarding of the MCIA contract to the consortium of GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India and Megawide Construction Corp.

He said the contract would cause injury not only to Cebuanos, but to all people traveling to and from the Visayas and Mindanao.

In a recent public hearing at the Senate, the representatives of the consortium expressed assurance they have the capability and resources to rebuild the airport.

However, Osmeña did not believe them. â€œRight now, the DOTC has not yet made a decision and I am questioning why they did not undertake and exercise due diligence now that the process is almost at its end. We found out there are skeletons in the closet,” he said.

Earlier, Osmeña expressed doubt on the competence of the GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India to carry out the 25-year project.

He cited GMR’s alleged shaky financial standing and its partnership with the German firm Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, or Fraport, which figured in an anomaly in the PIATCO-NAIA 3 terminal project.

GMR is part of a consortium operating two airports in India, the Delhi and the Hyderabad International Airports.

One of GMR’s partners in the Delhi International Airport project in India is the German firm Fraport, as shown in GMR Infrastructure’s Annual Report for 2011-12.

Apart from Osmeña,  Senators Antonio Trillanes, Chiz Escudero, Grace Poe and Bam Aquino have asked DOTC to explain the delay in the awarding of the contract for the construction and management of MCIA.

During a hearing last week, the senators took to task the government’s public-private partnership program and the DOTC bids and awards committee (BAC) regarding the awarding of the project to a foreign firm with a questionable background. 

When asked by Trillanes if the contract has been awarded, DOTC Undersecretary Perpetuo Lotilla said no awarding has been done yet.

Lotilla said the BAC has not determined yet who gave the best offer and the financial evaluation stage does not stop at the premium being offered.

Osmeña grilled the executives of the Indian conglomerate GMR Infrastructure, the foreign partner of the Megawide-GMR consortium, on its reported three-year consistent operating losses and the pressure from the Indian banks for the company to sell assets to lighten up its debt.  

GMR officials described as speculative the reports saying the company recently sold 40 percent of their investment in the Istanbul Airport after only six years.