P250-M Clark airport upgrade in full blast

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Work on the P250-million upgrade of the aircraft parking area and taxiway at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here is now in full blast after the project was awarded to a local construction firm.

The company, RD Policarpio, has 40 days to finish the project which will make the DMIA the only airport in the country capable of absorbing the impact of large aircraft weighing as much as 1.2 million pounds, officials of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said.

Emmanuel Angeles, CDC president and chief executive officer, said RD Policarpio was awarded the contract after a careful scrutiny of the ratings of qualified bidders, to ensure that the project would pass the international standards of the Canada-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

President Arroyo recently renewed Angeles’ appointment, making his term virtually co-terminus with the President in 2004.

The President also renewed all the appointments of the CDC board of directors chaired by Rizalino Navarro.

The P250-million upgrade is funded by a loan, which the CDC has secured from the Philippine Veterans Bank.

"The project is necessary as the taxiways and parking site at the airport were built by the US Air Force and designed primarily for military aircraft, not the much heavier, wide-bodied commercial aircraft," said CDC executive vice president Victor Jose Luciano.

The P250-million loan, packaged by the Investment and Capital Corporation of the Philippines, is the first to be obtained by the CDC for any purpose.

It is payable in five years, with a two-year grace period. Interest is on a 91-day T-bill rate plus 2.5 percent per annum.

Luciano said loan payments would be derived from increased revenues expected from aeronautical and other airport fees to be generated at the improved DMIA.

He said the upgrade would boost the viability of the DMIA, which has modern facilities, including two parallel 3.2-kilometer runways designed to accommodate the US Space Shuttle.

The DMIA now hosts the intra-Asian hub of the United Parcel Service, which has five flights nightly. UPS has pumped in an initial $300-million investment.

This month, the UPS is expected to mount seven flights daily to and from Bombay, Sydney, Hong Kong, Inchang, Narita, Taipei and other major Asian destinations.