President Duterte Leads Groundbreaking Ceremony Of P4.8 Billion Bicol International Airport
President Duterte and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade
led the groundbreaking rites on Thursday, December 8, for the P708-million
construction of landside facilities in the long-delayed Bicol International
Airport (BIA) project in Barangay Alobo, Daraga.
In an interview, Elizaldy Co, owner of the Sunwest
Construction and Development Corporation, the contractor of the BIA Package 2A,
said the project would have a two-year time frame and “will be completed by
2019.”
According to Co, the landside facilities will consist of 17
buildings: administration, cargo terminal, air traffic control, crash fire
rescue, air traffic control, power house, maintenance, material recovery
facilities, pump room and water reservoir, chilled water pumphouse,
chlorination house 1 and 2, guard houses and the Department Transportation’s
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines quarters.
So far, the government has spent P1.6 billion for the
acquisition of lands and the construction of a 2.1 kilometer runway. The
implementation of the airport project has dragged on for 11 years.
It was conceptualized and approved during the presidency of
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and was carried on during the presidency of Benigno
Aquino III.
The project should have been operational in 2016 but got
stalled due to lapses in the bidding process, despite the readiness of funds.
The scope of work was confined to the airside facility
project while that for the structures at the landside area was being worked
out.
The funds were released in three tranches: P300 million in 2009 and another P300 million
in 2010 for concrete road construction and site development. The P970 million
funding released in 2012 was spent for the construction of a 2.1-kilometer
runway.
The project once finished will totally make up for the
technical limitations of the existing Legazpi Airport as manifested in frequent
flight cancellations. It will also
provide for safer air transportation to the growing number of passengers
because of a booming tourism industry in the area.
The BIA lies in a 148-hectare area with a 2,100-meter runway
strip, to be equipped with night landing capability and take-off facilities,
control tower, passenger and cargo terminal, car park, fire station, and other
modern facilities.
Source: Inquirer
President Duterte Leads Groundbreaking Ceremony Of P4.8 Billion Bicol International Airport
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December 09, 2016
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