That ‘world-class’ airport terminal
The inauguration yesterday by President Duterte of Terminal 2 at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) brought with it some insights into how a moribund facility could be made exciting and deserving of one’s pride. Terminal 2 showcases the transformation of MCIA into a “resort-like” airport.
The new Mactan airport terminal gave us a glimpse of what happens when the so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) setup is unleashed, or when the best practices of the private sector merges with the best practices of the public sector. Who would have thought that the second busiest airport in the Philippines would end up looking this way?
A press statement by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) noted that Terminal 2 “was designed in collaboration with world-class Cebuano and Filipino artists, as well as international design and architectural firms, with the aim to provide a welcoming ambiance that is distinctly Filipino.” What is inside it is indeed jaw-dropping.
And yet it seems like only yesterday—in November 2014 to be exact--when government entrusted to the GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) consortium the task of managing and developing the MCIA for 25 years after a bidding that was hotly contested and contentious and involved the meddling by politicians and a litigation process that ended only two years ago.
In a way, the inauguration of the “resort-like” terminal was the first major peak in the process of transformation that began under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, and continued under the present dispensation. Which brings us to another insight about the need for continuity of projects and programs sans the interference of partisan political interests.
But physical look is only one aspect of all these because the bigger challenge is human in nature. With the new terminal and the planned development of the old one, the passenger capacity of the airport would increase considerably. How the airport management will handle that while ensuring quality of its service can be a challenge bigger than constructing a world-class airport terminal.