Estrada opens work on P2-B NAIA-3 terminal

Work has started on a new P2-billion airport passenger terminal that will replace the existing Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

President Estrada led a consortium of German and Asian investors for the groundbreaking ceremonies at the construction site inside Villamor Air Base in Pasay City yesterday.

Known as NAIA-3, the terminal will be built over a period of three years on a 65-hectare property under a build-operate-transfer arrangement.

The building's roof will be "shaped like the outstretched wings of a bird in flight, suggesting a country on the verge of taking off," said the consortium.

Once completed, it will have an annual capacity of 13 million passengers. The present airport can only accommodate five million passengers a year.

"We need a new gateway to the Philippines," said Mr. Estrada in a speech. "The old airport is still adequate for international traffic. It can still serve its purpose for the next several years. But it is very old and operating at the limit of its capacity."

The President said the old facility was "beyond repair that further innovations on it will simply be a waste of money."

The consortium, called Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (PIATCO), said it had signed an agreement with the government to build and operate the terminal over 25 years.

The group also has Filipino, Singaporean and Japanese shareholders.

It will pay the government a fixed annual fee of P300 million during construction and P700 million between the fifth and 25th years of operation.

It said the design would take into consideration the Filipino penchant for bringing the entire clan to welcome or send off relatives.

"People who wish to greet their friends or see them off will no longer have to stay outdoors since they will have access to the airport's terminal itself."

Mr. Estrada has instructed the project's principal contractors to complete the terminal earlier than their three-year timetable.

"I have only 1,557 days left in my term," he said.

"I hope you finish it (NAIA-3 project) in 20 months during my term. People often become impatient to see results from those who make promises to them. But some things take time, while the really important things take longer. The initiatives we launched at the start of my presidency will bear fruit in due time. But our people are impatient," Mr. Estrada said.

The President has ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways and other concerned government agencies to ensure the completion of NAIA-3

PIATCO said the government should collect fees and revenues worth between P2 billion and P3 billion a year over the length of the contract.

It said the existing terminal provides P800 million to the government each year.

The terminal was designed by the American architectural firm Skidmore Owings Merill along with Flughafen Frankfurt Main AG of Germany. -