Bangalore 31st October 2014 GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation GMCAC a joint venture between GMR Group and Megawide Construction Corporation has taken full operational control of the Mactan Cebu International Airport MCIA in Cebu Philippines.

This marks a key milestone for GMCAC in its journey to transform MCIA into a world class airport. This is also an important landmark for Philippines as the MCIA is the countrys first airport to be privatized under the administrations ambitious PPP programme aimed at modernizing key infrastructure assets.

In the international competitive bidding process GMR Megawide Consortium had emerged as the highest bidder after offering a bid premium of 14.4 billion Philippine Pesos. The formal award of the project in April was followed by a six month transition period to complete project formalities leading to the transfer of operations to GMCAC.

As part of the overall master plan GMCAC will build a brand new terminal building within three years to cater to the growing traffic. At the same time the immediate priority will be to upgrade the existing terminal and enhance operating systems and processes to improve service quality and efficiency. Alongside GMCAC will lay adequate emphasis on corporate social responsibility and work towards socio-economic development in the surrounding region.

Commenting on this occasion Mr G M Rao, Chairman GMR Infrastructure Ltd said “The takeover of operations of Mactan Cebu International Airport marks the beginning of a new chapter for GMR Group’s airports business. We have proven credentials in airport operations and modernization and we are confident that we will undertake this prestigious project in a timely manner and deliver an airport that Cebuanos and Filipinos will be proud of.”

Mr Rao further added “GMR has proven track record for the standards and quality of infrastructure, services and customer deliverables at key airports such as New Delhi Hyderabad and Istanbul Sabiha Gocken. We have the requisite experience across the entire spectrum of airport development and operations. We believe that our strategic plan for MCIA will result in the delivery of an efficient passenger oriented and commercially sustainable airport. We believe in inclusive growth and through Foundation we will also contribute towards the social and economic development of the Cebu province”.

GMR Megawide Consortium plans to develop the Mactan Cebu International Airport into a regional hub in the Philippines, creating passenger and cargo traffic growth, jobs for local community, giving a boost to the tourism traffic and creating multiplier economic benefits for the region.

Airports operated by GMR have been consistently rated amongst the best run airports in the world as per Airport Service Quality surveys conducted by Airports Council International GMR has demonstrated its capability and expertise by transforming the Delhi airport. When GMR took over the airport in 2006 it was ranked 101st amongst 150 airports around the world Today the Delhi airport is the 5th best airport overall amongst 285 airports in the world Similarly the Hyderabad airport has been rated the 2nd best airport in the world in the 5 to 15 million passenger category.

GMR had bid for the Mactan Cebu airport project with Megawide Construction Corporation one of Philippines leading construction firm.

For further information about GMR Group visit https://www.gmrgroup.in/index.html