Airport expansion, not transfer

CEBU, Philippines - The Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) Board is only considering the feasibility study to expand the existing facility and not the possible transfer of the airport to other places like the nearby Cordova town.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) turned over last year the final report of the Feasibility Study for the New Passenger Terminal and Master Plan of the MCIAA.

After its board meeting yesterday, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia who sits in the board said that there is now a particular schedule already in the procurement process for the building of this terminal.

Garcia, however, did not divulge to the media the schedule except that it is on a Built-Operate-Transfer scheme employing the public-private partnership (PPP) direction.

She also did not disclose the amount involved since it is the private partner that will put up the funds under the BOT scheme.

Garcia asked the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) for a more compressed time schedule to implement the study.

“For me, we needed this yesterday,” Garcia said.

With the capacity of 4.5 million passengers when it was built in the 90s, the MCIA already hit 6.2 million passengers in 2011.

For the first two months of this year alone, MCIA had 296,474 passengers that is 25 percent higher than the 237,946 passengers for the same period in 2011.

Garcia said that Cebu is becoming more interesting and people like to come here as it gives a lot of opportunities to find employment and set up businesses.

With this growth, Garcia said it is a challenge for them in the government to see to it that the infrastructure can keep up with this development and the most obvious is the airport terminal.

“We have an expansion in the existing terminal but we really need a new terminal that should be built not just to serve 6.2 million passengers but for 20 to 30 million in the next 20 years,” Garcia said.

She said that supporting infrastructures must also be built by government such as wider roads and steady supply of power and water.

“That’s is why if we are to go by the traditionally held old ways we will never be able to meet these pressing demands that should have been already addressed yesterday,” Garcia said.

KOICA’s report contains studies on the condition of existing airport facilities, environmental analysis, air traffic demand forecast, airport master plan, and feasibility study for the new passenger terminal.

The project seeks to improve passenger safety and air transportation infrastructure in Cebu. It is envisioned that the upgrading of the MCIA would promote tourist access to Cebu Province and Central Visayas, thereby increasing local employment and income generation.

The study was conducted over a one-year period and was made possible through a US$ 1.1 million grant from the Korean government.  (FREEMAN)