Philippine Star, 03 April 2013
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said there would be no further extension in the deadline for the submission of prequalification documents for the controversial P17.5 billion Mactan-Cebu international airport project.
DOTC undersecretary Rene Limcaoco issued General Bid Bulletin 08 – 2013 notifying the bidders about the postponement of the deadline to April 22 instead of April 5 but stressed that no further extension would be granted by the agency.
“Please be notified that, upon the request of several bidders, the submission and opening of documents is moved to April 22. There will be no further extension,” Limcaoco stated in a notice dated April 1.
This was the fourth time that the agency has postponed the deadline for the submission of pre-qualification documents.
The DOTC, in early February, moved the deadline for the submission of pre-qualification documents to Feb. 27 instead of Feb. 18 to give bidders more time to conduct ocular inspection to familiarize themselves with the site conditions in relation to the airport project.
The DOTC, however, again issued General Bid Bulletin 05- 2013 extending the deadline anew to March 22 instead of Feb. 27 and General Bid Bulletin 06 – 2013 extending further the deadline to April 5 due to the request for extension by the prospective bidders.
The Mactan-Cebu international airport is situated in a 797-hectare property and has a single 3,300 meter runway that is complemented by a full-length taxiway.
The terminal building has a capacity of handling 4.5 million passengers annually on two wings, the domestic wing and the international wing. It is a major trade center in the south for both domestic and international traffic.
Companies that have expressed interest in the project include the tandem of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Investments Corp. of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan and taipan John L. Gokongwie’s flagship firm JG Summit Holdings Inc.; the tandem of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. and the country’s second richest businessman Lucio Tan; and the partnership of publicly-listed Megawide Construction Corp. and infrastructure giant GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India.
Other companies interested in the project include Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC), Premier Airport Group care of retail magnate Henry Sy’s SM Investments Corp., Aboitiz Land, Inc., Filinvest Development Corp. of taipan Andrew Gotianun, and Prime Power Holdings Corp.
