GMR close to winning second airport contract in Philippines
GMR expects to get a final order in a week from the Philippines government to make a new integrated terminal at the country's Clark International Airport
New Delhi: GMR Group, in alliance with Megawide Construction Corp. of the Philippines, has emerged as the preferred bidder for building the country’s Clark International Airport’s new integrated terminal, GMR said in a statement on Friday.
GMR expects to get a final order from the government of the Philippines in a week.
The mandate will be to build a new terminal for eight million passengers at Clark airport, located 100km from Manila.
The project involves design, construction, testing and commissioning of a new terminal along with specified facilities such as car parks. This will be the second airport project which GMR Group will be developing in the Philippines along with Megawide Construction. The consortium already operates the Mactan Cebu International airport, the second largest in the country.
“The Philippines is a focus market for GMR Group and we are confident that this win will further strengthen our position in the Philippines and help us develop a strong base for more airports in South East Asia. We are close to completing the construction of the new terminal at the Mactan Cebu International airport which will be commissioned in June 2018. With the local supply chain expertise we have developed over the past couple of years, we are confident that we will be able to deliver Clark International Airport project in a cost-effective manner," Srinivas Bommidala, chairman (airports) at GMR Group, said in a statement.
This is the second airport project which GMR Group will be developing in Philippines along with Megawide Construction, with the consortium already operating the Mactan Cebu International airport, the second largest airport of Philippines which handles 10 million passengers annually.
GMR also runs the country’s biggest airport by traffic in Delhi under GMR Airports Ltd, a unit of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, besides Hyderabad. It has also won rights for new airports in Goa and Greece.
The Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) handles about 57.7 million passengers annually, while the Hyderabad airport handles 15.2 million. Goa already has an airport run by the Indian navy, and GMR is set to start building a new Rs3,000-crore airport in January.
GMR will also partner with Greek infrastructure major Terna SA to develop a new international airport at Heraklion, at Crete.
The existing Heraklion airport is the second largest airport in Greece, and has witnessed steady traffic growth in the last 3-4 years handling over 6 million passengers annually and is facing capacity constraints.
GMR had earlier built and operated the second airport in Istanbul, which it later sold off.
The group is also looking to raise about Rs3,000-5,000 crore from an IPO of its airports unit.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!