Two construction firms from Indonesia and Malaysia have expressed an interest in building Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said .
It would be the fourth time that the airport operator has put the project up for tender. TIAC failed to find a bidder twice in 2018 and once last year. It is also the first time that international contractors have expressed an interest in bidding on a domestic project.
TIAC said that it plans to choose qualified bidders by August this year, adding that it would unveil the specifications of the project and begin accepting tenders afterward. But the plan has been pushed back due to the pandemic.
Because of the scale of the project, construction firms would have to work with other contractors, the company said, adding that it is possible that a domestic construction firm might work with an overseas contractor.
Jakarta-based construction firm PT Wijaya Karya Tbk (Wika), which is owned by the Indonesian government, and Malaysia-based property firm Gamuda Berhad, want to secure the contract, TIAC said.
Wika completed Terminal 3 of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and was also involved in the construction of Kinmen Bridge and the Sanyin MRT railway line, CECI Engineering Consultants Inc, Taiwan said.
Gamuda was involved in building CPC Corp, Taiwan’s Yongan Liquefied Natural Gas Plant, the nation’s first liquefied natural gas plant, the consulting firm said.
The government began constructing the peripheral infrastructure for Terminal 3 in May 2017, including taxiways.
Before last year’s failed auction, TIAC postponed the estimated completion date to 2023 and raised the total construction budget from NT$74 billion to NT$78 billion (US$2.48 billion to US$2.62 billion).
A special task force was formed last year under the supervision of the Executive Yuan, and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to review the project.
The task force required that TIAC streamline construction without compromising important design elements.
The firm revised the project for a second time by raising the total budget to about NT$95 billion.
It also changed the deadlines for construction of the north satellite concourse, Terminal 3 and the south satellite concourse to 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively.
