Seven consortia, including the biggest names in global engineering and design, have entered the race to upgrade the Philippines’ second biggest airport.
Arup, CH2M Hill, Mott MacDonald, Buro Happold, Foster + Partners and Louis Berger are among the firms on the teams which have submitted prequalification bids for the upgrade of Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
The $430m public-private partnership (PPP) project is for building a new passenger terminal, renovating and expanding the existing terminal, installing all relevant infrastructure, equipment and IT, and operating and maintaining the airport for 20 years.
The seven consortia also include airport operating companies from Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealnd and the US.
The existing Mactan-Cebu International Airport is operating beyond its designed capacity.
The airport is operating beyond its designed capacity. It was built to handle 4.5 million passengers per year, but traffic has grown by 13% for the last 10 years, according to the country’s Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
In 2011 MCIA handled 6.2 million passengers, and DOTC expects tourism traffic to increase.
The prequalified firms will be announced on 17 May with the contract expected to be signed in October.
Officials said they were satisfied with the number of prospective bidders.
"[S]even is actually an excellent number," Transportation Undersecretary and bid chairman Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla told reporters. "It is already an indicator that there is a wide representation of participants."
