PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte yesterday led the inauguration of the new passenger terminal at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
MCIA Terminal 2 (T2), which brings the airport’s annual capacity to 12.5 million passengers from the current 4.5 million, will start operations on July 1. It will serve solely as an international passenger terminal.
Construction of T2 is part of the P17.52-billion Mactan airport upgrading project, the first airport public-private partnership (PPP) project in the country.
“It’s a beautiful airport. Cebuanos are very lucky,” Duterte said in a press conference after the inaugural ceremony.
T2, styled as the country’s first resort airport, was designed by Hong Kong-based Integrated Design Associates (IDA), and local designers Budji Layug, Royal Pinda, and Kenneth Cobonpue. Its design pays tribute to Cebuano culture and heritage.
It features 48 check-in counters, with room for expansion to bring the total number to 72, as well as seven boarding bridges, with plans for five more.
The terminal will also have several food and beverage outlets and will be equipped with 12 escalators and 15 elevators.
The 65,500-square-meter facility was built by concessionaire GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), a consortium that is 60-percent owned by Filipino construction company Megawide Construction Corp. and 40 percent by Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Limited.
GMCAC, which signed in April 2014 a 25-year concession agreement to manage and upgrade the airport, is also renovating the existing passenger terminal, which will now be used solely for domestic operations.
Public viewing
“We are committed to delivering a world-class travel experience to the public with our signature Filipino warmth,” said Louie Ferrer, GMCAC president.
The President said he is to join the people of Cebu in inaugurating T2. “The construction of this world-class transportation facility shows that the government and private sector partners are committed to provide our people with the necessary infrastructure to be able to be more comfortable, productive and (have a) meaningful life,” Duterte said.
The President recognized the effort of the Department of Transportation, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority and GMCAC in realizing T2.
More than 800 personnel from the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 guarded Duterte during his visit.
Chief Supt. Debold Sinas, PRO 7 director, said that they deployed police officers at the venue and along the route to the Hoopsdome where the President later attended the oathtaking of newly elected barangay officials.
“We also deployed an intel team to look over policemen to make sure that they stayed in their posts. My directive was for them to not leave their post,” Sinas said.
Checkpoints were also set up in the province and in the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu.
Meanwhile, there will be a public viewing a week before T2 starts operations on July 1, said MCIA General Manager Steve Dicdican. Not everyone will be able to enter the facility, since it’s exclusively for international-bound passengers, he said.
Dicdican said visitors for the public viewing may have to register.
He added that they’ve raised the international terminal fee from P750 to P850. (SunStar Philippines with EOB, JOB & HPL)