June 14, 2009 05:30 PM Sunday
By: Mamer Bañez
CASIGURAN, Aurora -- The P157-million Casiguran airport undergoing construction will be further upgraded into an international airstrip at the cost of P100 million.
Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said the Casiguran airport with a longer runway will be able to serve larger aircrafts that can travel to other destinations through connecting flights to other airports.
Angara-Castillo said that Sen. Edgardo Angara secured the funding for the upgrading of the airport into an international airstrip.
Cagayan Valley Construction, the contractor tapped to build the airport, said it expects to complete Phase 2 of the facility by next month.
Phase 2 involves construction of the runway, a 480-square-meter apron, a taxiway, terminal building, administration building and others.
Phase 1 of the project, involving clearing and grubbing, earthworks and construction of perimeter fence, was completed October 2007 at a cost of P15 million.
To become an international airport, the 1.2-kilometer long airport will have to be lengthened into 1.5 kilometers. The project encountered some delays because the elevation at the project site has been raised from 0.9 meter to 1.5 meters, the same level as the site of the Aurora Special Economic Zone.
The lady governor said that the airport not only would help promote tourism and attract business opportunities both for foreign and local investors but would also provide access to other destination airports.
As a domestic airport, it would connect Casiguran to Manila via the Baler airport, to Isabela through the Cauayan and Palanan airports and to Cagayan Valley through the Tuguegarao airport.
___________________________________________________________________________________
