Mixed-use dev’t in Cebu airport eyed

The Filipino-Indian venture that won the contract to expand and operate the Mactan Cebu International Airport is seeking bids from at least eight groups eyeing a mixed use project within the airport complex that may include a casino, a top official said.

GMR-MEGAWIDE Cebu Airport Corp. president Louie Ferrer told reporters in a briefing Wednesday that the company was planning to launch the tender in two months.

He declined to name the interested parties, but noted that these included some of the biggest property developers and gaming companies in the Philippines and overseas.

GMR-Megawide is owned by Megawide Construction Corp., which counts the Sy family behind the SM Group as its shareholders, and India’s GMR Infrastructure.

The auction will cover the development of at least six hectares adjacent to the Mactan Cebu International Airport. This was included in the MCIA public private partnership project, which GMR-Megawide bagged in 2014, besting other conglomerates and global airport operators.

“The original plan will include a hotel and mall complex,” Ferrer said in a briefing discussing the company’s PPPs. “There is also an opportunity for a casino.”

Ferrer said the plan was for the adjacent property to be fully developed by the time the MCIA passenger terminal expansion is finished by October 2018. Once the new terminal is completed, Ferrer said they would refurbish the original passenger terminal, which could take about a year.

GMR-Megawide is upgrading the MCIA into a world-class facility while boosting capacity to about 13 million passenger per year.