Megawide aims to book P24-B contracts this year

MEGAWIDE Construction Corp. targets to book P24 billion worth of new construction contracts this year, driven by projects from the private sector.

The diversified engineering conglomerate said this is the second highest value of contracts it has signed to- date, following the P38 billion worth of deals it bagged back in 2015, and more than twice the P10.8 billion it secured in 2017. More than half of the contracts were signed during the first quarter of the year.

“Malaki dun yung Clark, P4.9 ( billion) yung Clark. The others typical, mga buildings, commercial, mga private,” Megawide Chief Executive Officer Edgar B. Saavedra said in a press briefing before the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Mandaluyong City yesterday.

Megawide and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. signed the contract for the engineering, procurement and construction of the new terminal building for Clark International Airport last Jan. 29.

This year, Megawide expects revenues to grow 12% to P21.37 billion, of which P18.59 billion will come from the construction segment.

“Per segment, construction (revenues) will grow 11% year on year compared to that of 2016 to 2017, wherein we only posted growth of 6%,” Megawide Chief Financial Officer Oliver Y. Tan said during the briefing.

Meanwhile, revenues from airport operations are expected to grow by 21% to P2.78 billion for the year.

Megawide on July 1 commenced operations for the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Terminal 2, which will bring capacity to 12.5 million passengers from 8 million passengers before. The new terminal will service solely international flights.

“The operation was according to plan. ( The first flight) was from Shanghai... The passengers we have about 19,000 a day for the total terminals 1 and 2, of which 30% will come from international,” GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. President Manuel Louie B. Ferrer said at the same briefing.

From an average aircraft movement of 10 per hour, Megawide said the MCIA Terminal 2 will bring aircraft movement to 12 per hour with the addition of more carriers. The company said the terminal can serve up to 18 aircrafts during peak hours.

The company is also seeking to add a second runway at the MCIA. It has already received original proponent status for its proposed second runway project, which is now being evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority board.

CLARK BID

Megawide is also planning to bid for the operation and management of Clark International Airport for 25 years, after the provision that would have disqualified the company from participating was lifted last month.

An information memorandum by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority said a company could not qualify if it holds a majority equity interest in a concession holder of an international airport in the Philippines.

“Before there was a clause that could disqualify us, they lifted it two days before the June 7 inauguration of MCIA. But our partner is disqualified because of the Skytrax. We have the option to partner with someone else, but we haven’t considered that option yet,” Mr. Ferrer said.

The Bangalore- based GMR group was supposed to be Megawide’s partner for the project, but technical qualifications of the airport partner, however, specified that it should be included in SkyTrax’s Top 20 Best Airports. Skytrax is a United Kingdombased airline rating organization.

Mr. Ferrer said Megawide may get a new partner, noting that they are currently in talks with one Asian and one European firm for the project. The deadline for the bidding is on July 20.

Shares in Megawide went down 0.35% or seven centavos to close at P19.98 each at the stock exchange on Monday.