Airport lot for sale

A retail giant offered to buy the 300-hectare lot occupied by the Mactan Cebu International Airport, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district confirmed yesterday.

In a press conference at his Guadalupe home, the congressman said Hans Sy, president of SM Prime Holdings, wrote MCIA general manager Nigel Paul Villarete to express the company’s interest in buying the airport lot.

While the airport lot is not for sale, Villarete said they cannot ignore SM’s offer and referred it to their planning and development office for study.

The offer came amid a previous proposal to relocate the airport to Cordova town.

Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy earlier proposed to reclaim a portion of their shores and use it to accommodate a new international airport.

Sy said SM’s proposal will help the MCIA raise funds for the airport transfer.

“SM’s proposed development on the privatized property will provide Mactan, as well as surrounding communities with convenient access to world-class and modern commercial and mixed-use complex,” said Sy’s letter.

Sitoy previously said the airport’s existing location was already too small for its growing needs.

Before renovation

The Cordova mayor said since the airport was also “unwanted” by the Lapu-Lapu City government, it would be best to relocate this to Cordova town.

Osmeña agreed, saying the airport transfer will decongest traffic and benefit Lapu-Lapu City’s reclamation project in barangay Ibo as well as Cebu City’s South Road Properties (SRP).

Osmeña, who showed a copy of Sy’s letter to local media, said a proposed airport site in the coastal waters of barangay Day-as, near Shell Island, is facing the SRP.

He said he wanted the public to learn about SM’s offer to MCIA to encourage debate on the proposal before a reported P5-billion airport renovation begins.

“A P5-billion loan, which could be sourced from the World Bank, will incur interests, and you have to pay it back.  Would you like to pay P400 in terminal pay because of the need to pay World Bank?” the congressman said.

To do away with interest payments, Osmeña said the MCIA board could instead agree to SM’s proposed purchase of the airport lot and the airport’s transfer to Cordova town.

He said proceeds from SM’s lot purchase was already enough to fund the airport transfer.

Reclaimed land

Osmeña said the 300-hectare airport lot is estimated to cost more than P2,000 per sq. meters.

Osmeña said a new airport would need about 100 hectares of reclaimed lot.

About 60 hectares is needed for the airport administration building and cargo and parking areas while the remaining 40 hectares is for a new runway.

He said it was easy to reclaim the shallow coastal waters of barangay Day-as in Cordova town.

What would cost is the need to build a solid barrier or riprap to protect the new airport runway from waves.

The existing MCIA runways measuring about four kilometers long may be converted into a highway that would cut the interior portion of Lapu Lapu City and connect to Cordova town, said Osmeña.

The highway would make travel easy from the Cordova airport to resorts located in Lapu-Lapu City, he said.

The congressman said this would allow construction of high-rise structures in Lapu-Lapu City’s Ibo reclamation project.

Track record

Osmeña said having the airport in Cordova town means there would be no more need for a bridge connecting the town to Cebu City since people can ride the roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessel.

Sy said SM has the track record to implement the commercial development they plan on the airport’s existing site in Lapu Lapu City.

He said SM is now the country’s largest mall owner, developer and operator with 41 large-scale shopping mall complexes located in different parts of the country as of Sept. 11, this year.

Each of their malls has an occupancy rate of 97 percent and a daily pedestrian count of 3 million.

“We will also appreciate if the MCIAA Board could designate a point person, preferably the one in charge of the Authority’s planning and development office, who could provide us more details regarding the project,” Sy’s letter said.

Villarete said Sy’s letter was already referred to the MCIAA Board in their meeting last Monday.

The board referred Sy’s letter to their planning and development committee headed by engineer Ricky Dakay for study.

“Sitoy’s proposal came out during a May 28 public consultation. That is something that the board will have to make a decision on. But it has not been discussed in details,” Villarete told Cebu Daily News. /Doris C. Bongcac and Edison delos Angeles