Manila, August 29 (Engineering Daily) -- A bunch of airport projects has been being propelled in Philippines. The prominent projects are selected to be the New Bohol(Panglao) airport, a new airport in Bulacan and developing the Sangley airport in Cavite.
The New Bohol(Panglao) airport is the first eco-airport in the nation and it is to be inaugurated in October the Department of Transportation(DOTr) reported.
The New Bohol(Panglao) airport has been constructed since June 2015 and was initially targeted to be complete by 2021. But The construction has been 92% fulfilled by last month and DOTr has announced the airport will be ready for use by this year's October.
The expedited completion has been proceeded by the Dueterte administration since July 2016. The DOTr official Tugade had ordered 24/7 construction schedule to fast-track completion of the airport. Eventually, the percentage completion jumped to 86% in two years.
The prominent features of the airport are natural ventilation while solar panels are installed on the roof of it. The panels cover one-third of the airport's passenger terminal building and it accommodate two million passengers which is double of the capacity of Tagbilaran airport.
Unlike the Bohol airport, the airport projects in Luzon are being postponed to confront bureaucratic procedures.
San Miguel Holdings Corp. (SMHC) proposed the Bulacan airport project and it was approved by the National Economic Development Authority(NEDA) Board April 25. But it is now under consideration of SMCH and DOTr will commence negotiations with SMHC to finalize the draft Concession Agreement and submit the same to NEDA Investment Coordination Committee and begin the Swiss Challenge process.
The proposal includes the building of four parallel runways and a passenger terminal with 100 million passengers capacity per year.
Likewise, the project to develop the Sangley Airport will be defined after the Cavite LGU has determined the legal framework for its implementation.
Apart from these airports in Luzon, Tugade said several other airports are undergoing various stages of implementation. The Bicol International Airport in Albay is now also being constructed after 11 years of delay. The Siargao and Bukidnon airports are also in the works.
Transporation Secretary Arthur Tugade has reported "The idea of having multiple airports is something that the world's biggest economies do. Ideally, there should be a train service linking these airports which is also being pursued by the government. The complementation strategy is also going to be proceeded."
