BCDA to tap private sector for Poro Point rehab

MANILA, Philippines - The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) plans to tap the private sector to rehabilitate and modernize the San Fernando Airport in La Union, even as they eye the further development of the Poro Point Freeport Zone into a tourism and information technology (IT) hub in northern Luzon.

Lawyer Arnel Paciano Casanova, BCDA president and chief executive officer, said that there were already several groups that have expressed interest in undertaking the development of the airport.

“We’re now working on the TOR (Terms of Reference) for the bidding which we expect to hold within the year,” Casanova told transportation reporters in an interview at the sidelines of a BCDA press conference held yesterday to announce major projects for the year as they mark their 20th founding anniversary.

“There are many groups interested, actually,” Casanova shared.

He said that the airport could be a hub for tourists heading for the Poro Point’s Thunderbird Casino Resort, the beaches of San Fernando, Baguio City, and the other tourist areas in northern Luzon, especially with the closure of Baguio’s Loakan airport.

Casanova said that the development of the San Fernando Airport would help spur development in the area, benefitting the Poro Point Freeport Zone, as well as surrounding areas.

Felicito “Tong” Payumo, Jr., BCDA chairman, said that with the rapid development of their land assets in Metro Manila particularly in the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, the BCDA is now also focusing their attention to their properties outside the metropolis, such as the Clark Freeport Zone and the Poro Point Freeport Zone.

With the Thuderbird resort already operating, the presence of a first-class golf course, and and the establishment of fiber optic cables in La Union, Payumo said the infrastructure is there to promote tourism and to lure business process outsourcing firms to set up shop in the Poro Point ecozone.

“As you know, right there in Poro Point, the fiber optic cable of the telcos have already been established and developed. So we think it’s also a good area for BPOs, and IT related businesses,” Payumo said.

Aileen Zosa, BCDA executive vice president, said the BCDA has 35 hectares of lands ready for development in Poro Point, under their subsidiary Poro Point Management Corporation.