MIAA chief hopeful NAIA-3 will open within the year

Difficult, yes; but possible.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Alfonso Cusi is still hopeful that the controversial Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) can be opened within the year despite the difficulties the government is facing in this endeavor.

Cusi said NAIA-3 can still be opened "if everybody will cooperate (with) and support" the government’s efforts.

"If everybody will cooperate and no legal obstacles are put before us, I am of the opinion that we can still open it," he told The STAR in a telephone interview.

He said the negotiations with Japan’s Takenaka Corp. to obtain the firm’s cooperation in opening the terminal are underway and have not yet been abandoned by the government.

Takenaka is the entity contracted by the NAIA-3 owner to build the mothballed terminal. Takenaka’s cooperation is deemed vital in opening the terminal, since the company holds the blueprints and master keys for the terminal necessary to operate its computer and electro-mechanical systems.

Cusi earlier said recent developments in the ownership of the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco) consortium changed nothing in the government’s efforts to open the terminal and have it operational as soon as possible.

A Supreme Court ruling in 2003 nullified Piatco’s build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract with the government for being onerous and disadvantageous to the government.

Fraport AG, the German partner of PAIRCARGO in the Piatco consortium, recently sold its stake in the consortium to the Manila Hotel Corp. of industrialist and Manila Bulletin owner Emilio Yap.

International airlines operating at the rundown NAIA Terminal 1 earlier complained they were not updated by the MIAA regarding efforts to open NAIA-3, despite the fact that they are the most likely to be affected by the matter. — Rainier Allan Ronda, Sandy Araneta