GMR Group says in race to bag second airport in Philippines

The GMR Group, which is operating the Mactan Cebu international airport in the Philippines, today said it is in race to bag licence to develop the Davao airport in the Far Eastern nation.
The Davao airport, or the Francisco Bangoy international airport, is the third busiest airport in the Pacific island nation and is located at Catitipan in Davao City in the Mindanao province in the extreme south and is the second largest island in the ex-Spanish colony.
The Philippines government said the GMR-Megawide consortium has emerged as a pre-qualified bidder for the 40.57 billion pesos (around $810 million) airport project.

A GMR Group spokesperson confirmed their participation in the bidding process.
"The Government of Philippines has initiated a formal process for privatisation of five regional airports, including the Davao airport. We along with our local partner Megawide Construction are already operating the Mactan Cebu airport and are considering to participate in the upcoming bid," the GMR official told PTI.
The five regional airports in the Philippines currently being offered under PPP mode are the Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo (Bundle 1), Davao, Laguindingan, and New Bohol (Panglao) (Bundle 2), according to a note from the Philippines government. The total cost of these projects is USD 2.4 billion (or 108.9 billion peosos).

According to the prequalification bid document, the contract is for developing and running the operations as well as maintenance of the existing airport facilities.

It also includes expansion/construction of new passenger terminal(s), along with all associated infrastructure, facilities and equipment as per applicable standards.
The winning bidder will also have to enhance/develop operations and maintain the landside facilities (new and existing terminals) and airside facilities (including apron, runway and taxiway) to meet the growing demand.
However, air traffic control and air navigation services are not part of the project, the Philippines government said in the scope of the project.
The Davao airport, which has been operational for more than 15 years now, handled over 3.5 million passengers in 2016, and has been growing at 10 per cent CAGR, it said.

The GMR-Megawide combine currently has been operating the Mactan Cebu international airport in the Philippines since 2013.
In December 2013 GMR Infrastructure, in partnership with Megawide Construction Corporation, had emerged as the highest bidder after offering a bid premium of 14.4 billion pesos (around USD 320 million).
Currently, the GMR Group runs two international airports-the nation's busiest and the largest Indira Gandhi international airport in New Delhi and the Rajiv Gandhi international airport in Hyderabad-- and has won the bid to build a greenfield airport at Mopa in north Goa.