Lockdown won’t bog down Clark airport terminal completion

The new passenger terminal at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga province is nearing full completion well ahead of schedule.

Being built by Megawide GMR Construction Joint Venture Inc., the terminal with a capacity of eight million passengers annually is now 96-percent finished with only minor components remaining, according to Megawide chair and CEO Edgar Saavedra.

“Despite challenges we are facing, we were actually ahead of schedule before the ECQ was implemented in Luzon,” Saavedra said, referring to the enhanced community quarantine implemented to stem the spread of the new coronavirus disease, or COVID-19.

The deadline for the project was originally set on July 31 this year. Saavedra said it could be turned over much earlier if the Luzon lockdown is lifted by April 14, an unlikely scenario given recommendations from the private sector to extend the quarantine.

“The [lockdown] has minimal impact on our construction timelines for Clark International Airport primarily because engineering and construction are Megawide’s core strengths and the fact that we leveraged on what we learned from the

Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) expansion,” Saavedra said.

A Megawide-GMR consortium also operates MCIA.

The joint venture won the tender to build the new Clark airport terminal in December 2017 after submitting the lowest bid of P9.36 billion.

The new passenger terminal will at least double Clark airport’s capacity. The gateway is currently being operated by the privately owned Luzon International Premiere Airport Development (Lipad) through a 25-year concession.

Lipad is comprised of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc. and Changi Airports Philippines. INQ