GMR Airports completes new PTB of Clark International Airport

GMR Airports with its consortium has completed construction of a new terminal building of Clark International Airport, in the Philippines and handed it over to Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

The handing over of the airport’s new terminal building was through a formal ceremony on Friday at Clark Freeport Zone. This marks a significant achievement for GMR as it delivers the second project in Philippines after developing Mactan Cebu International Airport – the second largest airport of Philippines.

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

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.

With its proximity to the beach, mountain-view resorts and hill stations nearby, Clark Airport has the potential to give a boost to the tourism as well as the local economy.

Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman, Energy & International Airports, said: “We feel proud to be part of President Duterte’s ‘Build-Build-Build Program’ through the development of Clark Airport and would very keen to further contribute in growth of aviation sector of the country through more projects.”

“We are delighted to have been able to complete the new passenger terminal building in a record time of 24 months and hand over to BCDA successfully.”

CIA is being positioned as an alternative to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila. It has the potential to emerge as a future destination for direct flights to and from India.

GMR Infrastructure in partnership with Megawide Construction Corporation of Philippines is operating and developing Mactan Cebu International Airport – the second largest airport of Philippines.

The Megawide-GMR consortium was awarded the Mactan-Cebu International Airport rehabilitation, expansion and operation for a 25-year concession period.