THE Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) is a few steps shy of awarding the P2-billion contract for the construction of a parallel taxiway or secondary runway.
Civil works, or phase 1, of the parallel taxiway project is scheduled for groundbreaking middle of January 2020, MCIAA Public Affairs Chief Mary Ann Dimabayao said.
This parallel taxiway is different from the proposed second runway that is eyed to be constructed on the property currently occupied by the Mactan Economic Zone, which is more commonly known by its former name Mepz.
During the bidding on December 23, 2019, the consortium of Cebu-based Duros Development Corporation and China Construction First Group Corporation submitted the lowest bid of P2.078 billion, lower than the estimated project cost of P2.099 billion.
Duros and China Construction underwent the post-qualification stage on December 26, 2019 and January 2, 2020, respectively.
The Business Development and Finance Committee of the MCIAA Board is scheduled Monday, January 6, 2020, to discuss the results of the post-qualification stage and make a recommendation to the Board, which will award the contract.
"Technically, the project has not been awarded yet. We have to follow the bidding process," Dimabayao said.
Both the parallel taxiway and second runway are proposed components of a P208 -billion expansion project presented by terminal operator GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation in 2017.
GMCAC has been granted original proponent status for the project, which is still undergoing evaluation by the National Economic and Development Authorit (Neda).
The Mactan Airport, second busiest in the country, is capable of handling 12.5 million passengers a year.
Passenger and air traffic volumes at the airport, however, have been increasing. As of the third quarter of 2019, passenger traffic has gone up by 10 percent to more than nine million passengers while air traffic volume went up 6.0 percent as more airlines launched new links or increased flight frequencies. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)