DOTC taps 4 firms for airport projects in Visayas, Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has tapped four companies to construct semi-permanent passenger terminals in various airports in Visayas and Mindanao.

Michael Arthur Sagcal, DOTC spokesperson, said the agency has awarded contracts to D.G. Sarmenta Construction, V.T Lao Construction, Advance Tech Construction & Trading Corp., and Vesa Engineering and Construction.

Sagcal said the government is putting up semi-permanent passenger terminals in airports in Puerto Princesa, Dipolog, Zamboanga, and Catarman to help the government achieve its target of luring 10 million tourists into the country by 2016.

 â€œThis will improve passenger convenience by allowing the airport to meet increasing tourist arrivals in the meantime that long-term upgrades are being done. We are aiming for this to be up by summer next year,” Sagcal said.

He pointed out that the government saved over P9 million from the four projects as the tenders submitted by the bidders were all below the bid ceiling prices.

D.G. Sarmenta won the bidding for the Puerto Princesa project with a bid of P21.49 million or about P1.2 million lower than the bid ceiling of P22.68 million while V.T. Lao bidded P26.7 for the Dipolog project involving the construction of river protection and runway strip grade correction or P7.6 million cheaper than the ceiling of P34.3 million.

On the other hand, Advance Tech Construction & Trading bagged the project in Zamboanga with a bid of P5.7 or about P300,000 lower than the bid ceiling of P6.01 million while Vesa Engineering and Construction won the project in Catarman with a bid of P7.52 million or about P40,000 lower than the ceiling of P7.56 million.

Earlier, the DOTC planned on setting up semi-permanent PVC tent terminal buildings at the international airports in Tagbilaran, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, and Clark in Pampanga.

However, the DOTC opted to put up semi-permanent terminal buildings to increase the capacity of the existing terminals as an interim solution to the urgent problem of passenger congestion. The semi-permanent terminal buildings could be dismantled, transferred, and reused in other airports.

Meanwhile, the DOTC is inviting bidders for 10 airport and port projects worth close to P300 million.

These airport projects include the P138.36 million for the Roxas Airport in Capiz; the P27.6 million project at the New Bohol (Panglao) Airport in Palawan; the P13.81 million project in Catarman Airport in Northern Samar; and the P13.1 million project in San Vicente Airport in Palawan.