Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
DAVAO CITY — The office of the Department of Agriculture in the Davao Region will start using the old Davao airport terminal in Sasa, some 10 kilometers from the city proper, as a food cargo facility before the end of the year.
Rogelio C. Chio, Agriculture regional director, said President Gloria M. Arroyo will lead the inauguration of the new facility this September this year.
"This is a purely government effort [for now]," he said, adding that his office is willing to dialogue with the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. for its possible participation in this project.
Davao chamber’s proposal
Davao chamber president Simeon P. Marfori had earlier said that the organization was interested in a tie-up for the feasibility study for the terminal’s conversion to handle food cargo instead.
He said the chamber has been trying to meet with Agriculture officials since two months ago, when Secretary Arthur C. Yap first brought up the proposal when a trade mission from Saudi Arabia visited the city.
"They [the Davao chamber] should make clear when they want the dialogue held," Mr. Chio said in an interview.
The old Davao airport terminal began operating 60 years ago.
It was mothballed when the new airport terminal was inaugurated on December 2, 2003.
During the 8th Davao City Business Conference in July last year, the Davao chamber presented to Vice-Mayor Sara Z. Duterte a resolution to convince national officials to develop the old airport terminal into a cargo and trade center.
Councilor Peter T. Laviña, chairman of the city council’s committee on trade and commerce, said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines is willing to listen to any proposal on how to utilize the old airport facility as long as the city will earn revenues from its new use.
A better option?
He argued that, more than a cargo hub, the most viable plan would be to convert the old airport terminal into a business process outsourcing (BPO) facility.
"What remained of the old airport terminal was just a shell and that’s all the BPO locators need; they will just refurbish the structure," he said.
There were originally six to seven proposals for the old Davao airport terminal, including a BPO center, an aviation school, a cargo logistics and trade center.
Bert P. Barriga, Jr., vice-president of the Davao ICT Council, projected an income of P70 million over the next five years once a call center locates at the old airport terminal, paying rent of just P250 per square meter, which is at least 40% less than the rate prevailing in Metro Manila. — Joel B. Escovilla
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