PH firm eyes $300-M airport project in India

Megawide Construction Corp. is pursuing a construction project in India—its first overseas—as it builds on a relationship with its Indian partner in the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

Megawide said it was prequalified as contractor for the Mopa Greenfield Airport in North Goa, India. The airport concession was awarded to GMR Goa International Airports Ltd., a subsidiary of GMR Group Inc.

In 2014, a unit of GMR and Megawide jointly won the 25-year concession to develop, operate and maintain the Mactan Cebu International Airport via the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

“The engineering methodology that we are using for Mactan-Cebu International Airport has gained a lot of attention here and abroad. It was on this basis that we were invited to bid for the Mopa airport project, and we believe it gives us a lead over other bidders,” Megawide president and chief operating officer Edgar Saavedra said in a statement.

The airport project has a total construction cost of $300 million. The contract includes the passenger terminal building, air traffic control tower and cargo facilities.

Megawide said the actual bidding for construction of the Mopa airport would be held in September this year.

“The proponents were very impressed with the design and construction methodology we implemented in T2. In fact, despite initial delays in the turnover of project land, we are already at 67-percent completion and 7-percent ahead of schedule,” Saavedra said.

Megawide was established more than a decade ago as a contractor, making a name for itself during the residential tower construction boom in Metro Manila. It diversified into infrastructure via the MCIA project.

Goa is a state in India’s West Coast. According to Megawide, the greenfield airport is designed to accommodate an initial five million passengers a year.

“We are compiling a very strong proposal. The design and methodologies are undergoing development with a special consideration of the local conditions and materials,” Saavedra said.

Megawide is currently undertaking the construction of a second passenger terminal in MCIA. Once opened in June 2018, it will increase the airport’s passenger capacity from 4.5 million passengers to 12.5 million passengers annually.