MANILA, Philippines – The government is eyeing the transfer of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from Metro Manila to Clark, Pampanga, Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II told a Senate hearing yesterday.
Roxas said the 440-hectare NAIA, if privatized, would raise up to $2.5 billion in revenue for the government.
“And that in effect will pave the way for the transfer of the airport to Clark,” he told the Senate committee on finance.
“But the key to the transfer is the high speed rail because without that, it really becomes very inconvenient,” said Roxas.
The issue cropped up during the hearing when Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile asked for the latest updates on the government’s North Rail project with China.
At that point, Enrile raised the possibility of transferring the international airport to Clark once the project becomes successful.
“It will be beneficial to the country because it will link Central Luzon, specially Clark, with Metro Manila. We can transfer the international airport to Clark and leave the present international airport for further development,” Enrile said.
Meanwhile, members of the Airline Operators Council (AOC) at the NAIA said they would transfer to Clark or the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) if the facilities and the transportation are well in place.
“If the terminals and the high speed transportation like the speed train from Manila to Clark are in place, there is no doubt we will transfer,” AOC chair Ma. Lourdes San Juan said.
It had been reported earlier that the NAIA is already congested and has reached its “critical level.”
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director general Ramon Gutierrez said that to solve the aircraft congestion at the NAIA, operations here should be closed and eventually transferred to the DMIA.
Roxas lauded
Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and chief executive officer Victor Jose Luciano lauded Roxas’ support for the Ramos-era plan to transfer the country’s main international airport from Manila to Clark.
Luciano made the statement as he bared plans of an investor to construct more hangars that could accommodate wide-bodied aircraft at the DMIA complex.
He, however, declined to give details about the project pending the finalization of contracts.
In April 1994, former president Ramos signed Executive Order No. 174 designating the Clark airport, later named after former president Diosdado Macapagal, as the “future site of the country’s premiere international airport.”
EO 174 cited the International Air Transportation Association’s forecast at that time “that more than 376 million enplanements (51.1 percent of world total) will be in the Asia-Pacific by the year 2010, a fourfold increase from 1990.”
The executive order also noted that in other Asian countries, airport expansion were outside major cities “to alleviate congestion in airspace, runways and terminals, and to keep pace with rapid economic development.”
It also stressed the need of “relieving Metro Manila of further increase in migration, congestion, pollution, traffic and other urban ills.”
Luciano said that the CIAC “is prepared to assume fully the requirements of a full fledged international airport.”
“The commitment of President Aquino and Secretary Roxas, which they have now made public, is expected to finally remove any hesitation on the part of potential investors to come to the DMIA with solid optimism,” he said, amid plans to construct a world-class passenger terminal on top of the existing terminal at the 2,500-hectare aviation complex.
NAIA expansion
Meantime, while the transfer of the NAIA from Manila to Clark is being studied, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will conduct a feasibility study on the possible expansion of the NAIA complex in Pasay City in view of the recent move of President Aquino authorizing the transfer of the huge Nayong Pilipino property to the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) for the extension of airport and cargo facilities.
Roxas said that the issuance of Executive Order No. 58 was just part of the game plan towards the development of the NAIA, and the overall five-year transport infrastructure master plan being drawn up by the DOTC worth some P490 billion.
“The EO is a major part of the game plan to build a world class transportation infrastructure for land, air and sea that would ensure safe and convenient travel for all Filipinos,” Roxas said.
In Executive Order No. 58, the President said the 22.3-hectare land of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation Inc. (NPF) will be used for the expansion of the NAIA Terminal 2.
This expansion to the north will include the development of the New International Cargo Terminal Facility to support the operation of NAIA Terminal 3 and “accommodate growth in the passenger and aircraft movement,” it said.
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By: Rudy Santos with Ding Cervantes, Rainier Allan Ronda
Source: The Philippine Star, Oct. 11, 2011
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