Rappler, 23 April 2013
MACTAN AIRPORT. The Lopez group joins the contest for this Mactan-Cebu airport expansion project. Photo courtesy of the PPP Center
Eight of the Philippines’ richest and most powerful, and 7 of their foreign partners from 3 continents were among the trimmed down list of participants in the auction for the P17.5 billion Mactan-Cebu International Expansion project, the country’s 2nd busiest. Groups led by Gokongwei, Manuel Pangilinan, Ayala, Aboitiz, Gotianun, Tan, Sy, and Lopez families have teamed up with foreign firms from France, US, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, India and Switzerland that have expertise in airport projects. Bidding for this key infrastructure project under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme faced numerous delays, but the Aquino government wants it finished by 2016.
