Megawide eyes 6 more airport projects

Cebu City , Philippines  â€“ Megawide Construction Corp., one of the most active local companies in the public-private partnership (PPP) scene, is joining more auctions for airport rehabilitation and operations.

The consortium of Megawide and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd. will continue their partnership that recently bagged the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) deal, executives said.

Megawide chief financial officer Oliver Tan said the company is planning to join the bidding for six more airport PPP projects this year.

“The Philippines is the fastest growing economy in this region. Tourism is a growing business and considering that, it generally means that airport development is good in the Philippines,” said Manish Khalghatgi, vice president for corporate communications of GMR.

Khalghatgi said Megawide-GMR tandem is ready for more airport projects particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

The government plans to roll out more PPP projects this year including the P15.92-billion operation and maintenance (O&M) of the Laguindingan airport, the P2.34-billion enhanced O&M of the new Bohol airport. It also listed the O&M of the Puerto Princesa, Iloilo, Davao, and Bacolod airports as PPP projects.

The Megawide-GMR consortium last week received the formal award of the P17.5-billion MCIA project, the largest PPP offered to date.

Aside from airport projects, Megawide is also interested to be the contractor for the winning bidder of the P65-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 elevated railway extension to Cavite province, Tan said. Megawide is also preparing to join the bidding for the P35.6-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway project.

So far, Megawide has bagged four PPP projects: the P5.7-billion new Philippine Orthopedic Center, the MCIA, the PPP School Infrastructure Project Phase One (PSIP-1) and PSIP-2.

Despite numerous projects on its plate, Megawide is still prepared to pursue more infrastructure ventures.

“The airport is a collaboration with GRM and Megawide. We will have an entirely separate organizational structure,” Tan said.

Megawide also has manageable debt levels as available cash is larger than existing debts, Tan said.

For its part, GMR has the skill and the expertise for end-to-end airport projects that deal with financing, rehabilitation and operation, Khalghatgi said.

Megawide is one of the top contractors in the Philippines while GMR is the world’s third largest private airport developer in terms of passenger traffic.