Consortium stands firm to get airport project

CEBU, Philippines - “We will continue with this fight because we believe this is rightfully ours.”

This was the strongly-worded statement of the GMR-Megawide consortium during yesterday’s press conference, tackling on issues hurdled against them and their bid on the billion-peso Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

Louie Ferrer, CMO and Vice President of Megawide group and Andrew Acquaah Harrison, Deputy CEO of GMR, both defended their consortium by answering one-by-one the various accusations thrown at them.

Among the newest issues against the group was brought up recently by Cebu City South District Representative Rodrigo Abellanosa who in a congressional hearing noted the numerous bids Megawide already won with the government including the construction of school buildings which have reportedly been delayed.

Abellanosa, during the congressional hearing last week, noted his fear that the delay of the construction of the schools may also happen with the MCIA project.

But Ferrer explained that the completion date of the said projects is still in December of this year. While the date was moved, Ferrer stressed that the Department of Education (DepEd) also acknowledged the challenges of completing the project particularly on the location of the schools.

Megawide showed a video presentation of the area of the school wherein their equipment, workers and supplies had to be transported via unpaved roads in the mountain and crossing through rivers.

Ferrer said they are optimistic of completing the project by December 2014 since they are already 60 percent finished.

After dismissing the delay issue, Megawide’s partner in the MCIA bid, GMR, has also assured that they will finish the airport project and they will stay for the “long haul.”

Harrison said that even with the slight delay in awarding the project which should have been done earlier this month, they will still deliver the airport project according to schedule.

The GMR-Megawide consortium is pushing for the first in the world “resort-airport.”

Earlier this year, the second highest bidder, the Filinvest-Changi consortium wrote a letter to the DOTC, raising issues against the highest bidder, the GMR-Megawide.

Since then, Harrison said they have responded to each allegation to the DOTC, although the latter has not responded to their replies. “We assume that there has been a degree of satisfaction to those questions,” he said.

Harrison, in reply to the question if they are ready to work with the other bidders if they win the bid, said they are willing to work with anybody that has something to contribute to the project.

In the group’s presentation, it was showed that Megawide has handled numerous projects already in the country, including projects with Filinvest.

In the meantime, Harrison said they will continue on collaborating with stakeholders to get more views on the project and other possible suggestions that can incorporate in their plans.

For one, the group acknowledges the problem of traffic congestion in Cebu, especially in roads that lead to and out of the airport.

Manish Kalghatgi, group head of GMR’s Corporate Communications, said that once they are awarded the project, they are looking forward to meeting with local government officials to discuss how to solve traffic congestions.  (FREEMAN)