Manila Bulletin

Clark Airport expansion project attracts 10 firms so far – BCDA

- By MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR

State-run Bases Conversion and Developmen­t Authority (BCDA) had so far attracted 10 prospectiv­e bidders — including Megawide Constructi­on Corp., Metro Pacific Investment­s Corp. (MPIC), and a Korean infrastruc­ture firm — for the constructi­on of the new passenger terminal in Clark Internatio­nal Airport (CRK).

BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Vivencio Dizon told reporters that 10 companies, mostly foreign, have already bought bid documents for the initial Engineerin­g, Procuremen­t, Constructi­on (EPC) contract worth R12.5 billion to build CRK's new terminal.

The R15.34-billion new terminal building of CRK is currently being implemente­d through government funding.

Right now, BCDA is on the process of getting EPC contractor for the project, which happens to be the first to fall under the hybrid public-private partnershi­p (PPP) scheme of the government.

Among the companies that are vying for this role are two of the country's major infrastruc­ture players, Megawide and MPIC, as well as POSCO, a multinatio­nal infrastruc­ture company that built South Korea's Incheon Internatio­nal Airport, which is one of the best airports in the world.

Aside from them, there are still as much as 20 local and foreign firms that have already expressed their interest to participat­e in the bidding.

"You can buy bid documents until submission day in October so there will be more bidders in the next days to come. We are even surprised that as early as now, there are already 10 bidders. We want to award this project by the end of November and groundbrea­k the new terminal in December," Dizon told reporters.

A pre-bid conference is set to happen tomorrow (Tuesday, August 22) for the project.

Dizon noted that the auction for EPC contract will be done seperately with the bidding for the terminal's operation and maintenanc­e (O&M) contract.

The O&M of the existing and proposed new terminal building of Clark airport will also be bid out to the private sector through PPP. Once the new terminal is constructe­d, the O&M will be operated by the winning private partner.

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