GMR completes new terminal building in Philippines

GMR Group's airport subsidiary, GMR Airports, has announced the completion of construction of a new terminal building of Clark International Airport, in the Philippines by its consortium in record time.

The airport has been handed over to Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). The handing over of the airport's new terminal building was graced by DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade, through a formal ceremony on January 22 at Clark Freeport Zone. This marked a significant achievement for GMR as it delivered the second project in the Philippines after developing Mactan Cebu International Airport–the second largest airport of the Philippines, the company stated in a release.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has also awarded the contract for development of an international airport at Bhogapuram near here for which land acquisition is in process. The land acquisition is expected to be completed by February-end, sources in the Vizianagaram district administration told Bizz Buzz. The administration has already acquired 2552 acres and the process is on for acquiring an additional area of 198 acres.

Despite the challenge posed by COVID pandemic, the joint venture of GMR Group and Megawide Construction Corporation completed construction of the passenger terminal building of 112,000 square meters in Philippines in a record time of 24 months. "It's one of the fastest completed projects in the Philippines and the first project of the Philippines Government under the Hybrid Public-Private partnership (PPP) framework," the release said.

The size of the present terminal building is around 40,000 square metre. With this enormous terminal infrastructure, CIA will be able to handle around 8 million passengers per annum (MPPA) from present 4 MPPA. The capacity of this terminal can be further expanded to handle 12-16 MPPA.

The parking area of CIA's newly constructed passenger terminal building can accommodate about 4,500 vehicles. The terminal has 18 Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBB) and 48 check-in counters.

The construction conglomerate was awarded the EPC contract following an International Competitive Bidding in December, 2017. GMR-Megawide had outbid six others, including two Chinese consortia, in the fray with the lowest bid and signed the agreement with BCDA, which is a government-owned and controlled corporation under the Office of the President of the Philippines in January 2018. IFC (World Bank) intermediated transparent and internationally competitive project selection process. The project has a unique commercial contract structure with a Design-Build with 100% Government security of payments.