All seven prequalified groups submitted today final bids for the Mactan-Cebu International Airport project, Aquino administration's first airport public private partnership project. Bids submission had been delayed due to typhoon Yolanda several days ago.This airport is the second busiest airport of the Philippines. The project cost is estimated at P17.5 billion (US$ 400 millon).The project include the construction of a new passenger terminal with an annual capacity of 8 million, the rehabilitation of the old terminal, and the operation of the whole airport facility.Michael Sagcal (spokesman of DOTC) said:

The high turnout is proof that investors are confident in our PPP program. We want to sustain the momentum from this project to the next ones in our pipeline

The 7 groups that submitted bids for the project are:

• MPIC-JG Summit Consortium composed of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and JG Summit Holdings, Inc., with France's Aeroports De Lyon as operation and maintenance (O&M) partner;

• AAA Airport Partners composed of the Ayala and Aboitiz groups, with Texas-based Houston Airport System as O&M partner;

• Filinvest-CAI Consortium of Filinvest Development Corp. and Changi Airports Mena Pte. Ltd., with Changi Airport Saudi Ltd. as the O&M partner;

• San Miguel-Incheon Airport Consortium, composed of South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corp. as lead member and three others, including San Miguel Corp.-led Optimal Infrastructure Development, Inc. - with Incheon acting as the O&M partner;

• First Philippine Airports led by First Philippine Holdings, Inc., with Wellington International Airport Ltd., NZ Airports Ltd., and Infratil Ltd. as O&M partners;

• Premier Airport Group led by SM Investments Corp., with Switzerland-based Flughafen Zurich AG as O&M partner; and

• GMR Infrastructure and Megawide Consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and India-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd., with Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd. and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. as O&M partners.

The Mactan-Cebu airport currently covers an area of 797 hectares (1,970 acres). The terminal building has a capacity of handling 4.5 million passengers annually on two wings, the domestic wing and the international wing.