Fresh fund allocation enlivens hope for new Daraga airports completion by 2016 By Danny O. Calleja LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 24 (PNA) -- Confidence that the Southern Luzon International Airport (SLIA) in Daraga, Albay, will be ready for operation by 2016 has been enlivened by a fresh allocation of Php781 million from the national government. “With this latest fund allocation, we are keeping our fingers crossed that this project, one of the biggest in Bicol funded by the national government, will be completed before the end of the term of President Benigno Aquino III in 2016,” City Mayor Noel Rosal on Wednesday said. Also known as the New Legazpi Airport as it will serve as a relocation for the old and existing Legazpi Domestic Airport, the SLIA is now ongoing construction within a more or less 148-hectare site in the nearby Barangay Alobo, Daraga town. The new fund allocated through the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) will be used to cover the construction of several buildings -- including the operation and control tower, administration building, passenger and cargo terminal and land side facilities as well as the putting up of power, water and sewer facilities. The DOTC in Manila has already invited bidders of the project and the deadline for the submission of offers has been set on Jan. 21, 2015, wherein bids will be opened on the same day. It is expected that soon after the winning bidder is known on that day, the contract will be awarded to signal the start of its implementation which when completed will make the new airport almost ready for operations, Rosal said. “By that time, we are also done with the ‘Legazpi mega tourism highway’ project, an about 10-kilometer paved road network that will connect the city with the new airport, bypassing the traffic-congested Daraga town,” he said. This road project is now ongoing through the Php200-million fund provided to the city by the Aquino administration through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The prime section of this new road is the now-famous Legazpi Boulevard in Barangay Puro, a four-kilometer stretch of wide concrete road bordering the long beach of Albay Gulf and serving as an artistic milieu for physical fitness activities that is well-lighted at night, clean, easily accessible, secure and free from air pollution. The “tourism mega highway,” which is part of the local and national government’s public investment for access roads leading to tourist destinations, according to Rosal, will traverse several upland villages along the southern sector of the city and become the new local investment haven and another site for tourism industry development. “It traverses a rolling terrain over hills and mountain sides along four agricultural barangays that will offer travelers a panoramic view of Albay Gulf. At night, the entire stretch will be lighted by colorful streetlights to make the highway another sight to behold,” he said. Presently ongoing in the SLIA is the construction of 2.1-kilometer runway, which was started early this year through the Php979 million fund earmarked by the DOTC in late 2013 and whose start of implementation was delayed due to some project glitches. The construction works are being done by Sunwest Construction Corp., owned by local businessman Elizalde Co., which was awarded the contract in October 2012 but was only able to obtain a notice to proceed in August 2013 due to some technical flaws in the bidding process questioned by losing bidders. The runway construction is expected to be completed before the end of next year. The fresh Php781-million fund brings to a total of over Php2.7 billion the amount that the government has poured into this project since it was started in 2009—starting with the release in July of the same year to the Albay provincial government under Governor Joey Salceda of Php85 million for the site acquisition from private landowners. An amount of Php900 million released to the project in three tranches followed—Php300 million, also in 2009, another Php300 million in 2010 and Php370 million in 2011-- all for site development and construction of a more than one-kilometer concrete road linking the site with the national highway. These sub-projects are already completed. “We see this new airport as the most modern commercial aviation facility in Luzon, outside Metro Manila, given that it will serve as an alternative gateway that would decongest traffic in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila,” Rosal said. As for the travel demand market, the Department of Tourism said Bicol alone has 5.4 million people and Samar provinces that are closer to Bicol than Cebu with 1.65 million for a total market of 7.1 million. Hence, the SLIA will catapult the tourism and investment potentials of Bicol, especially this city that serves as anchor for modern business platforms and as a fulcrum for spatial integration of Albay and neighboring Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon provinces down to Samar into one common economic market. The new airport site is deemed safe from the risks and threats entailed when the majestic Mayon Volcano erupts. Over the last two decades, Mayon, whose perfect cone and spectacular eruptions are both tourist attractions, has regularly erupted once every three to five years. “We place our bets on this New Legazpi Airport to serve Bicolanos with fresh hope of liberation from poverty, given the economic gains that it would bring in to the region such as more jobs, investments, local taxes and revenue receipts from tourists, among others,” Jose Briones, a retired local tourism officer, said. Bicol, despite its vast natural resources -- including mineral deposits, geothermal power and tourism potentials, has remained among the poorest regions of the country today. With a poverty rate of 34.1 percent, which means there were around 34 poor for every 100 Bicolanos during the first semester of 2012 as reported by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Bicol ranks seventh among the country’s 17 regions. Per capita poverty threshold in the region during the same period stood at Php9,022, the fifth lowest among regions in the country. The amount means that a family with five members would need Php7,518.25 monthly to provide for the basic needs, according to NSO. (PNA) LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD/pjn
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 10:42:16 +0000