DOTC to present 2040 airport modernization plan
November 5, 2013 | 12:21pm
MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will present the options for establishing the country’s gateway airports from the present until 2040 to President Benigno Aquino III tomorrow, Nov. 6.
"We will present two options for modernizing our gateway airport system, which will show the world that we are preparing to be one of the top global tourist destinations for the next few decades," DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a statement.
Abaya cited that based on a Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) 2011 study, the annual passenger forecasts for the Greater Capital Region, which covers the National Capital Region and Regions 3 and 4A, will rise from 49.8 million in 2020, to 75 million in 2030, up to 106.7 million in 2040.
In 2012, total traffic was already at 31.879 million, the JICA study showed.
Abaya said to meet these expected volumes, the DOTC has identified two viable options, both of which will involve the expansion of Clark International Airport (CIA).
The DOTC is looking at the development of a new international airport roughly within 20 to 30 minutes of Metro Manila, to be fully operational by 2027, Abaya said.
He said that the two options differ insofar as the fate of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is concerned.
One option will entail the closure of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by 2030, which will mean that the new international airport should provide 78 percent of the required passenger terminal building floor space, with CIA handling 22 percent by that year.
On the other hand, the second option will allow NAIA to co-exist alongside CIA and the new airport up to 2040 and beyond.
Once the gateway airport roadmap to 2040 is identified, DOTC will finalize its plans to execute the policy.
The DOTC has already begun preparatory measures to boost expansion efforts at CIA and to identify the site for the new international airport.
A 6,000-square meter expansion of the CIA passenger terminal building was recently completed, and within this month, France’s Aeroport de Paris will begin preparing a master plan for a 45,000-square meter Low Cost Carrier terminal in Clark on a grant basis.
Meanwhile, JICA is currently conducting a site selection study for the new international airport, a long-term development that will begin and be completed in 15 to 20 years.
JICA is scheduled to submit its findings to the DOTC by the end of this year.
The DOTC said improvements for NAIA are also on the way, including the rehabilitation works for NAIA Terminal 1 will begin in December.
The on-going completion of system works at NAIA Terminal 3 by Takenaka Corp., the biggest architecture, engineering and construction firm in Japan, are on schedule and expected to be completed by third quarter of 2014, DOTC added.
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