Bicol airport completion set 2018

MANILA, Philippines – The construction of the P4.7-billion Bicol International Airport (BIA) will be completed in 2018.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) had ordered the BIA’s speedy completion in order to boost tourism and business prospects in the region, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said yesterday.

Salceda said once the BIA is completed, Albay alone would draw at least five million tourists by 2025. The project is also seen to generate 235,000 jobs in the next 10 years and $1 billion in investments.

“The benefits are expected to spill over to the whole of region. And being the only international gateway south of Manila, BIA’s completion augurs well for tourism prospects in Almasor (Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon),” he said.

DOT Secretary Arthur Tugade assured Salceda the airport would be finished on time. 

The airport is one of the first 10 major big transport infrastructure projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority recently.

Tugade also told Salceda that the bidding for the much-awaited P171-billion North-South Railway Project in Bicol would start this year.