MANILA, Philippines - The new airport eyed at Sangley Point in Cavite City will have to take a little longer as the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is still awaiting the feasibility study of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya relayed this development through Sen. Francis Escudero, Senate finance committee chairman, during plenary debates on the DOTC’s budget for 2015 last Thursday evening.
During the budget hearing, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said that the construction of a new airport is long overdue because there is an urgent need to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.
Osmeña recalled that the JICA saw the need for the government to construct a new airport as early as 1989 during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino but nothing materialized through the years.
“And up to now, I don’t know where the new international airport will be. There’s still a debate on whether to put up a second runway over at NAIA or to take on the idea, the concept of (businessman) Ramon Ang, to build, reclaim and expand at Sangley... When are we going to have anything decided on?” Osmeña asked.
Ang has reportedly expressed interest to invest in the new airport at Sangley Point.
DOTC officials said the latest feasibility study from JICA would be available by July next year. The study will then be submitted for approval of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), which is needed for the green light for the project.
Last July, Abaya said the new airport would operate under an integrated airspace with the same air traffic control as the NAIA. In effect, the new Sangley airport would be NAIA’s “third runway.”
“They have not yet decided whether or not to construct that third runway. They have commissioned a JICA study that will be available by July next year for the Sangley new gateway or the new airport,” Escudero said, quoting Abaya.
Asked by Osmeña if the DOTC is looking to finish the project by 2020, Abaya said he hopes that the NEDA board’s approval would come before the President’s term ends.
“Well, they promised us in 2010 that they would clean up (NAIA) Terminal 1 and get it out of the worst airports (list) in the world, worst terminals in the world list, and we’re still there,” Osmeña said.
Speaking on behalf of Abaya, Escudero responded that the DOTC has started rehabilitation of NAIA Terminal 1 and this is expected to finish by April next year.
But Osmeña remained unimpressed despite the ongoing rehab of the old NAIA terminals.