GMR-Megawide to Minimize Delays in Mactan Airport Terminal 2 Construction

(PNA) — The GMR-Megawide Mactan Cebu Airport Corporation is working on minimizing the delays in the construction of the Mactan Cebu International Airport’s (MCIA) Terminal 2 (T2), an executive said.

GMCAC chief executive advisor Andrew Acquaah-Harrison said that with the awarding of the contract for the transfer of some Philippine Air Force’s (PAF) facilities to another location, he is now “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The lot, which is currently being occupied by PAF’s 17 different structures, was supposed to be turned over to GMCAC in December 2014 but the move did not push through.

The 17 structures will be transferred to pave the way for the airport’s expansion.

The structures, including the MIP (Most Important Persons) lounge, will be replicated to the amount of P800 million.

Harrison said the construction of the Mactan Airport T2 is necessary with the increasing number of passengers passing though the MCIA.

“Cebu needs this capacity. The sooner we build the airport, the better for Cebu and surrounding areas in the Visayas,” he said.

GMCAC is a consortium between the Philippines’ Megawide Corporation and India’s GMR Group.

The operating company for the airport’s concession is a joint venture between Megawide (60 percent) and GMR (40 percent).

The consortium won the bidding for the P17.5-billion project to develop and manage MCIA for 25 years under a competitively tendered Concession Agreement, through the government’s Private Partnership Program.

The GMR Group also operated the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India which is ranked as the world’s number one airport in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category.

Harrison called the Delhi airport’s achievement a matter of great pride for the GMR family.

He said this would serve as an inspiration in the drive to transform the passenger experience at MCIA to attain the number one slot in its own size category. (PNA) FPV/ EB