Interaksyon.com , 21 December 2012
By Darwin G. Amojelar
MANILA – The Aquino administration has begun seeking bids for the construction of a new passenger terminal at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), the government’s eight public private partnership (PPP) project rolled out since the program was launched in November 2010.
In a statement, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Center said the $504.8 million project will include the construction of a new passenger terminal and apron, operation and maintenance of both new and existing passenger terminals, renovation of the existing terminal, installation of all equipment, including information technology (IT) required under international guidelines and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
Structured as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, it will grant the winning bidder the concession to operate and maintain the two passenger terminals and other landside facilities for 20 years.
Companies that earlier expressed interest in the project include San Miguel Corp, Metro Pacific Investments Corp and the partnership of Ayala Corp and Aboitiz Equity Ventures.
State-run Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority will continue to operate and maintain critical airside facilities of the airport, including the runway, taxiway, apron, communication navigation and surveillance facilities, air traffic control tower, among others.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) meanwhile will continue to provide its airways navigation service at the airport.
The MCIA is the second largest international airport in the Philippines, serving 14 percent of the country’s passenger traffic or some 5.7 million passengers a year.
The airport serves as a gateway to tourism destinations around the Visayas and the project is expected to increase tourist arrivals in Cebu and nearby regions. In 2011, the MCIA served as gateway to 1.6 million tourists.
“We are very pleased about the outcome. This is a product of a lot of hard work and diligence of the implementing agencies. The game plan was to focus on structuring these projects properly and to successfully bid them out. With a little bit of pushing, and with things falling into place, we finally have 8 PPP projects up for bid. What is encouraging is the immense interest that we are generating from the private sector to invest in these projects, ” Cosette V. Canilao, PPP Center executive director, said.
The other seven projects are phases I and II of the School Infrastructure Project, the NAIA Expressway Project, LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Operation & Maintenance, the Contactless Automatic Fare Collection System, the Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center, as well as the Rehabilitation and Operation and Maintenance of the Angat Hydro-Electric Power Plant Auxiliary Turbines 4 & 5.
Two projects have been awarded, namely the Daang-Hari SLEX Link Road Project and phase 1 of the School Infrastructure Project.
Of the 8 PPP projects up for bid, 6 received support from the Project Development and Monitoring Fund (PDMF).
The PDMF provides implementing agencies the funding support for the procurement of transaction advisors who are tasked to develop and prepare pre-feasibility, feasibility studies and tender documents for PPP projects, and provide assistance in the bidding process.
The PPP Center also provides technical advisory, project facilitation services, and capacity building support to implementing agencies and local government units in ensuring that PPP projects are developed and implemented effectively.
