Thursday, June 18, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The General Santos City International Airport is set to get a major facelift worth P40 million, with work to start in the next two months, a ranking aviation official said yesterday.
This will be the first major improvement for the facility since it started operating 13 years ago, said Nathaniel Y. Nazareno, the Civil Aviation Authority’s chief here.
He said announcement of the winner of the bidding for this project is expected in 30 days.
The airport gets just P2 million monthly for its upkeep, including allocation for personnel salary, Mr. Nazareno said, adding they have not increased the P40 terminal fee charged to flyers.
President Gloria M. Arroyo said during her visit in nearby Koronadal City last week that renovation work at the airport here would cost at total of P121 million. Some P40 million of that was included in the 2009 budget of the Department of Transportation and Communication and the P81 million would be included in the department’s 2010 budget, the President said.
Mr. Nazareno said the P40 million would be used to expand the floor area of the passenger terminal and the perimeter fence of the airport as part of the security precautions. — R. S. Sarmiento
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