Tacloban airport terminal project bidding set in June

TACLOBAN CITY, March 17  -- The new PHP721-million Tacloban Airport terminal building project will be bid out this June, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Friday.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said full development of the domestic airport is ongoing to make the facility suitable for international flights.

“Tacloban is one of the priorities because this is the seventh busiest airport in the country with 1.2 million passengers last year,” Tugade told reporters.

Top DOTr officials were in this city Friday afternoon to unveil the expanded passenger terminal building designed to ease congestion.

The current expansion increased the total floor area to 1,100 sq. meters and added 275 seats to the 360-seater departure area before the extension.

Tugade said the growing number of passengers had prompted them to expand the existing facility while waiting for the construction of a new terminal building nearby under the long-term development plan.

“If the airport is good, this will give comfort to travelers and attract more investments,” he added.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Jim Sydiongco said the DOTr is ready to bid out the PHP721 million new passenger terminal building by June 2018.

Sydiongco said the target is to complete the full development of the city’s airport within the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The PHP400-million budget allocated in 2017 will also finance the site development for the new terminal building, including the construction of a perimeter fence.

Also included in last year’s allocation are the construction of asphalt overlays, a newly designed parking area, and shore protection.

“The ongoing development activities will be completed by November,” Sydiongco said.

Part of the future development is the extension of the runway to 2,500 meters from the existing 2,100 meters, according to CAAP.

The central government conceptualized the upgrading of Tacloban Airport as early as May 1996 when the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) carried out a master plan on the development of Tacloban, Bacolod, Iloilo and Legazpi Airports.

This is in support to the Philippine government’s thrust to modernize transportation infrastructure and facilities and promote exports by air in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan ‎(1993-1998).

The project has faced several setbacks for two decades, including the government’s inability to provide a counterpart budget to the JICA-funded project during the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In November 2012, then-president Benigno Aquino III approved the PHP2.12 billion Tacloban Airport Development Project supposedly for implementation between 2013 and 2016.

The concreting of the new apron and taxiway were completed in 2014. However, the terminal building construction failed to push through with the diversion of the PHP718.75-million fund for the Tacloban Airport to the Disbursement Acceleration Program. (SQM/PNA)