CEBU CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 23, 2014) – Cebuano Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said he has called for an investigation into the unwarranted delay in the multibillion-peso rehabilitation and expansion of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Passenger Terminal.
The rehabilitation is a public-private partnership project and Gulas – in filing House Resolution 863 – urged the House committees on Good Government and on Transportation to jointly inquire into the circumstances surrounding delay in the project.
“We want…resolved right away, so that the national government may finally receive the multibillion-peso payment for the right to perform the project,” Gullas said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The National Treasury is expected to book the payment as extraordinary income – “money that would go a long way in supporting vital social programs,” Gullas said, adding the payment is on top of the billions of pesos that the final project awardee is anticipated to spend in order to build a new world-class international terminal capable of handling eight million passengers every year; enlarge and modernize the existing terminal, which will be converted into a completely domestic passenger-only station; and install all the required equipment.
He said the awardee is also expected to run both the new and existing terminals for up to 25 years.
“We wish for the project to be carried out as soon as possible, as we are counting on it to help propel Cebu’s economic and jobs growth in a big way in the months ahead,” Gullas said. “Immediately, we see the project generating thousands of construction-related jobs that will directly benefit low-income households in Cebu. Once completed, we are also very hopeful that the bigger terminals will permanently employ more Cebuanos.”
Gullas said the new facilities will further stimulate travel and leisure-related industries throughout Central Visayas, a key tourism hub. The project will also give more meaning to President Benigno Aquino’s PPP strategy in delivering high-value infrastructure projects, for the purpose of driving economic expansion and producing badly needed new jobs, he said.
He said after several months of preparation, including the technical prequalification of 7 prospective bidders from the private sector, the Department of Transportation and Communications finally opened the financial bids for the concession on December 12, 2013.
In the financial bidding, the tandem of Megawide Construction Corp., and Bangalore, India-based GMR Airports Ltd., emerged with the highest offer of a P14.404-billion payment for the right to perform the project, according to Gullas.
However, the project awarding has since been deferred, following a complaint lodged by the second-highest bidder, the tandem of Filinvest Development Corp., and Changi Airports MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Pte Ltd., which offered P13.999 billion, he said.
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