DOTC makes P17.5-B Mactan-Cebu Airport project more attractive to investors

To encourage pre-qualified bidders for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport's passenger terminal, the Department of Transportation and Communications on Friday said there will be a 25-year moratorium on the construction of new airports in the islands of Cebu and Mactan.

 

Also, other airports in the island won't be allowed to be upgraded to international gateway status, Transportation Undersecretary Perpetuo Lotilla noted in a Special Bid Bulletin 15, saying the new timetable is five years longer than the original  moratorium under the original draft of the concession agreement.

 

The government will also transfer the operation and maintenance of the aprons to the concessionaire, including the right to generate income and flexibility in increasing capacity.

 

“The grantors shall procure that during the subsistence of this concession agreement, neither the grantors nor any government authority shall, at any time before the end of the 25th contract year, operate or cause to be operated a new international or domestic airport for handling scheduled commercial passenger traffic taking off or landing in the Mactan and Cebu islands,” the bulletin read.

 

The government also would not allow the construction of any commercial car park and competing hotel facilities within a 500-meter radius from the perimeter of the land in which the airport is located and controlled by the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority. 

 

But DOTC said the moratorium is limited within Mactan and Cebu and does not cover the Bantayan and Camotes islands. It also does not apply to the development of other modes of transportation as well as new and existing airports exclusively servicing chartered flights. – VS, GMA News