GMR to file tech bid for Filipino airport

GMR Infrastructure and its partner Megawide Construction Corp are gearing up to submit technical bid for developing Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) project in the Philippines with an investment of $425 million. The infrastructure firm which was recently shortlisted in the pre-qualification bid was given three months time to submit the requisite documents. We will have to file technical bid first and later the financial bid for the project in three months time, a senior official from GMR group said. All the seven groups which submitted the bid for the airport project were pre-qualified, reports from the Philippines indicated. The financial bids will be opened on August 17 and a notice of award will be sent to the winner on September 17. According to the bid document, the Mactan-Cebu airport project involves construction of a passenger terminal building with a capacity of eight million passengers per year. It also envisages renovation and expansion of the old facilities, installation of required equipment and operation of both the old and new facilities. The successful bidder will be awarded a 20-year concession contract to operate, while the project will be developed in two phases at an estimated cost of $425 millionA MCIA is the second largest airport in the Philippines after Manila International Airport, and had handled more than 6.2 million domestic and international passengers in 2011. The airport is also a major gateway for various tourist destinations in central and southern provinces of Philippines. The Philippines government has decided to expand MCIA as passenger traffic has grown by a staggering rate of 13 per cent for the last 10 years. At present, GMR Infrastructure operates two airports in India - Delhi International Airport and Hyderabad International Airport - and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA) at Istanbul in Turkey.