DOTC gives Cebu airport bidders more time

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has given interested companies another one month reprieve to prepare their documents and form their groups to boost their bid for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport project.

DOTC Undersecretary for legal affairs Jose Perpetuo Lotilla has issued General Bid Bulletin No. 05 - 2013 extending the deadline for the submission of pre-qualification documents to March 22 instead of Feb. 27.

 â€œDue to the request for extension by the prospective bidders, the schedule for the submission and opening of the pre-qualification documents has been moved from February 27 to March 22,” Lotilla stated in the bulletin dated Feb. 18.

Lotilla, who is also chairman of the agency’s pre-qualification bids and awards committee, also gave interested bidders until March 4 to submit all their clarificatory questions.

This is the second time that the agency has postponed the deadline for the submission of pre-qualification documents. Late last month, the DOTC moved the deadline to Feb. 27 instead of Feb. 18 to give bidders more time to conduct ocular inspection to familiarize themselves with the site conditions in relation to the airport project.

As of Monday, he pointed out that 11 companies have bought invitation documents from the DOTC.

These include the tandem of First Pacific’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and JG Summit Holdings Inc. of taipan John L. Gokongwei Jr.; Cebu-based Aboitiz Land Inc., Filinvest Development Corp. and Filinvest Land Inc. of businessman Andrew Gotianun; diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp.; Macroasia Corp. of tobacco and airline magnate Lucio Tan; Prime Power Holdings Corp.; construction giant Megawide; GMR Infrastructure; First Philippine Holdings Corp. of the Lopez family; and Premier Airport Group through SM Investments Corp. of retail magnate Henry Sy.

Aside from those that bought invitation documents, several companies including Seoul-based Samsung C&T Corp., Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), auditing firm SG&V Co., Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Changi Airports International, and French-owned Aeroport de Lyon have inquired about the project.

Based on a PPP Center briefing paper, the Mactan-Cebu airport project involves the construction of a world-class passenger terminal building with a capacity of eight million passengers a year as well as the operation and maintenance of the old and new facilities.

The Mactan-Cebu international airport is situated in a 797-hectare property and has a single 3,300 meter runway that is complemented by a full-length taxiway.

The terminal building has a capacity of handling 4.5 million passengers annually on two wings, the domestic wing and the international wing. It is a major trade center in the south for both domestic and international traffic.