12 December 2013, GMA News

 

Megawide Construction Corp. and partner GMR of Bangalore, India bested investors led by SM Group, Ayala Corp., San Miguel Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. by bidding P14.404 billion to take on the Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion project.

The consortium GMR Infrastructure of India-Megawide made the highest bid for the project, said Jose Perpetuo Lotilla, undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

The DOTC Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) will now hunker down to review the financial bids over the next two weeks and issue a notice of award on Jan. 6, 2013, Lotilla told reporters, saying the contract with the winning group will be signed on Feb. 6.

In a separate interview with reporters, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said the bids were beyond government expectations and noted that the Aquino administration was prepared to subsidize the project.

“Those are really good bids, all premium bids and exceeded our expectations. The government was prepared to give a subsidy. We got all the good operators from all over the world to participate. It’s good for the government,” Canilao added.

For Megawide chief financial officer Oliver Tan, it was a David and Goliath story, saying they slew the “Goliaths” by outbidding conglomerates that include SM Group, Ayala Corp.,  San Miguel Corp., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

“We really prepared for this…” Megawide chief marketing officer Louie Ferrer told GMA News Online. “It took us months to prepare, and we found a good partner in GMR,” Ferrer said, noting the Bangalore-based operator has three ongoing airport projects in India and Turkey.

According to DOTC, MPIC-JGS Airport consortium made an P11.23-billion bid for the project, AAA Airport Partners bid P11.088 billion, San Miguel Corp.-Incheon Airport wanted the deal for P9.05 billion, while First Philippine Airports tried to bag the airport project for P4.7 billion.

The winner is expected to build a world-class international passenger terminal building – capable of processing eight million passengers a year – for the second-largest Philippine airport after the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Ferrer told reporters Megawide already won several public-private partnership (PPP) projects to construct classrooms under the Department of Education’s School Infrastructure Project. – Danessa Rivera/VS/JDS, GMA News