Sangley airport pushed

By Jerry Esplanada, Contributor | 17 Sep 2016 

FAST-TRACKING moves to decongest traffic in the metropolis, President Duterte recently invited executives of a business consortium to brief him and members of his Cabinet on a project to build an international airport and seaport on reclaimed land off Sangley Point in Cavite.

Executives of the consortium All-Asia Resources & Reclamation Corp. (ARRC) briefed palace executives during a meeting at the Palace on Aug. 22 on a multibillion-peso project to develop Sangley Point as the country’s alternative international gateway to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Brothers William and Wilson Tieng, head of the Solar Group and president of ARRC, respectively, confirmed the top level briefing. The consortium groups the Danish firm Ramboll and Katahira Engineering Asia as its design and engineering partners, and Aexxell of Germany as business adviser, among other foreign entities.

Speaking before the Chief Executive and his Cabinet, Wilson Tieng said the project, which has long been on the drawing board, calls for the reclamation of 2,500 hectares on the flight line of the Danilo Atienza Air Base; the development of a 50-million airport terminal and the first of two runway systems, among others. Road access to the new airport will include, among others, an 8-kilometer Expressway linking Sangley Point and Noveleta town, also in Cavite. The target travel time between the two points is only eight minutes.

During the President’s first State of the Nation Address, or Sona, he had “specifically asked for the revitalization of Sangley Point as a solution to air traffic.”

Sangley, the executives agreed, would “not only decongest Naia, which is already running beyond maximum capacity, it would also help declog Metro Manila’s road system.”

Naia handles 36 million passengers annually (although Naia is designed for only 25 million). About 100,000 passengers travel daily to the facility.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) had proposed relocating Manila’s air and sea ports to ease traffic flow in Metro Manila.

Jica’s Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila proposed the closure of the Naia in Pasay City to pave the way for the development of a new Naia. The agency favored Sangley as the most strategic location for the country’s new international airport. The Japanese aid agency also recommended using the Clark International Airport as the secondary gateway airport for central and northern areas of the country.

Source: www.pressreader.com