Megawide Construction Corp. said it is carefully evaluating plans to bid for Clark International Airport’s operating and maintenance contract because its viability could be affected by San Miguel Corp.’s planned Bulacan airport and the rehabilitation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Megawide president and chief executive Edgar Saavedra said in a news briefing the Clark International Airport O&M project could no longer be that attractive because of the proposed rehabilitation of Naia and the implementation of the Bulacan airport project.
“The numbers could be challenging because of the award of original proponent status to San Miguel’s Bulacan airport and the Naia rehabilitation plan, which could potentially cannibalize the market,” Saavedra said.
Saavedra said the ongoing Clark International Airport terminal expansion, which Megawide was currently constructing, involved the construction of a new passenger terminal capable handling twice the size of Terminal 2 of Cebu Mactan International Airport.
Clark International Airport is currently handling 1.5 million passengers.
“The size of [Clark Airport] terminal we are building right now is twice the size of Terminal 2 of Cebu because the plan last year was close down Naia eventually. So the traffic will go to Clark and they wanted to build a bigger terminal even though traffic is currently only at 1.5 million passengers,” Saavedra said.
“Then suddenly there have been changes in the plan with the Bulacan airport and Naia rehabilitation plans. So it will be challenging and it may no longer be that attractive,” he said.
He said if Megawide decided to bid for the project, it would also get a new partner because India’s GMR was prevented from participating in the project. One of the requirements is that the foreign partner should be operating one of SkyTrax’s top 20 best airports.
GMR is Megawide’s foreign partner for the Cebu-Mactan International Airport project.
Megawide said two foreign airline operators, one from Asia and one from Europe, expressed interest in partnering with the company for the Clark O&M bid.
Eight companies, including Megawide, earlier expressed interest in Clark Airport O&M project. Other interested bidders were Metro Pacific Investment Corp., Filinvest Development Corp., San Miguel Holdings Corp., Manuel Villar’s Prime Asset Venture and Central Luzon Infrastructure Consultancy Inc. consortium, India’s GVK Airport Developers Ltd. and France’s Groupe ADP, previously known Aéroports de Paris
Megawide targets to have P26 billion in construction contracts this year, more than double the P10.8 billion worth of contracts secured in 2017.