Megawide, GMR tie up to bid for Philippines project

To bid for development of Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in Philippines

Philippines-based Megawide Construction Corp has said it has reached an understanding with infrastructure developer GMR Group to bid for the development of Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in the southeast Asian country.

According to a recent filing by Megawide with the Philippines Stock Exchange, the tie-up between both the companies will come through only when the airport contract is awarded to them.

Megawide was one of the 11 firms that bought bid documents for the MCIA project, which has the second largest traffic in the Philippines.

"Megawide, together with GMR Infrastructure Ltd, a leading infrastructure and airport developer from India, will participate in the bidding for Mactan-Cebu International Airport project," a statement from Megawide said.

When contacted, a GMR official said it was premature to comment on the issue.

MCIA handles 6.2 million passengers despite the design capacity of the existing terminal at 4.5 million passengers.

The Philippines government feels that MCIA needs to expand the airport, especially since passenger traffic has grown by an unprecedented rate of 13% for the last 10 years.

The Department of Tourism of Philippines anticipates 10 million tourists to visit the country by 2016.

With Cebu's strategic location and being one of the favourite tourist destinations, a surge of both local and international visitors is expected in the years to come. The development of MCIA is therefore crucial, the invitation for the pre-qualifying bid said.

According to the bid invitation, the project involves "construction of a new passenger terminal, along with all related infrastructure and facilities as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards".

The bid invitation also includes construction of an apron for the new passenger terminal and renovation and expansion of the existing terminal, along with all related infrastructure and facilities, as per international/ICAO standards to handle domestic operations and installation of all the required equipment and other related facilities.

Installation of the required IT and other equipment commensurate with the operations and maintenance of both the passenger terminals during the entire concession period, it further said.