Government to consider developing two new international airports, improving Naia and Clark

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade presented to an international audience the Philippines’ airport development plan that aims to accelerate poverty re­duction and transform the country to be among the larg­est economies in the world by 2022.

During one of the sessions that focus on Dutertenomics at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Asean in Cambodia’s capital, Tugade said the total airport development of the Phil­ippines consists of two phases — developing the existing and opening the possibility for new airports.

At present, there are two airports that serve as the main gateways into and outside the Philippines-the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila and the Clark International Air­port in Pampanga.

According to the Philippine Transportation chief, the plan is to develop the terminals at Clark airport, a former Amer­ican military base, since it has two state-of-the-art runways.

“The target to develop the Clark terminal in two to two-and-a-half years. This will be complemented by a railway project which will connect Clark to Manila in just 30 min­utes,” Tugade said.

At present, travel time from Manila to Clark and vice versa takes around two to two-and-a-half hours.

As for Naia, the Philippine official noted that the Philip­pines foremost airport would outlive its utilization because of the growth of the economy and the population as well as the im­provements in technology.

“The direction for Naia is to develop what is there right now. Development will under­take various aspects: the de­velopment of the utilization of the place, improvement on the structure to expand its capabil­ity to handle more moving pas­sengers and to include and use tech to enhance security and safety in consideration of vari­ous global threats,” Tugade said.

But while this is happening, Tugade said the government is not shutting the door of open­ing the possibility of other air­ports provided that these are within the purview of the re­quirements of international air­port regulatory offices.

He said that the govern­ment is studying two proposals — one in Bulacan north of Ma­nila and in Sangley Point, an­other former American base, in Cavite at the south.

“The proponent in Bulacan has proposed to build an airport with four runways. Meanwhile, the development of Sangley would be holistic, an airport and a possible seaport,” Tugade said.

But considering time con­straints, he said the government would prioritize what could be easily done and what could eas­ily be handled — improving the present.

“As we improve the pres­ent we look at the future and the possibilities and potentials of opening of other airports to handle expanded requirements of international standards is there,” Tugade said.

Meanwhile, the DOTr will no longer entertain unsolicited proposals from the private sec­tor for the construction of a new passenger terminal at the Clark International Airport and will just bid out the operations and maintenance of the airport in the future.

Tugade mentioned in a re­cent interview that he prefers the government to be in charge of the development of the Clark Airport rather than risk delays in the event a bidding involving private sector players would lead to litigation that would eventu­ally place the project on hold.

“If it’s bidding, what do you think will happen if a lot of investors want to participate? It will just prolong the devel­opment. That is why we will just do it ourselves. We could just bid out the operations and maintenance of the airport in the future,” Tugade told re­porters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony of the LRT-1 Cavite extension project last week.

The Duterte administra­tion is pushing for the hybrid mode of implementation where the government will develop infrastructure projects and bid out the operations and main­tenance to the private sector. This will enable government to fast-track projects without the risk of delay brought about by possible lawsuits filed by losing bidders.

The DOTr will inform Megawide-GMR and JG Sum­mit-Filinvest which submitted their respective unsolicited proposals on the Clark airport development of the new policy.

The government envi­sions the Clark International Airport to serve as an alterna­tive gateway to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila.

The Clark Internation­al Airport expansion project aims to construct a new pas­senger terminal building to accommodate 8 million pas­sengers annually as well as the construction of all required facilities to support its opera­tions.

It now falls under the ju­risdiction and responsibility of the Bases Conversion and De­velopment Authority (BCDA), and remains to be one of the priority infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration. The BCDA targets to open the new terminal by 2019.