03/29/2010 [ tribune.net.ph ]
The construction of the international airport in what is being touted as Boracay 2 in Romblon is now in full blast with foreign and local investors rushing in to buy prime properties, according to the municipal mayor.
San Jose town Mayor Filipino Tandog announced that 1.8 kilometers of the airport’s runway have been constructed of the P3-billion private initiative project expected to be operational by year 2012.
Tandog added that during a meeting in Malacañang last month President Arroyo assured Romblon Rep. Leandro Jesus Madrona and Gov. Natalio Beltran III and other provincial officials that the Carabao airport project will “materialize” even with the Caticlan airport upgrade project which giant beer maker San Miguel Corp. has expressed interest in recently.
Tandog also chided officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) for announcing that the Carabao island airport project will not push through because of the air traffic and the prohibition of having two international airports with 50 kilometers distance.
“We don’t care about the Caticlan airport expansion. No matter what our detractors say, what we can say is we have our own international airport in Carabao island in Romblon that is being financed by private businessmen and not by the government,” he said.
The mayor pointed out that “we have started the project since late last year or earlier than the ground breaking of the Caticlan airport expansion,” Tandog explained.
The Carabao international airport project has been delayed for four years because the Arroyo administration also plans to rehabilitate the Caticlan airport despite opposition from several stakeholders from Boracay.
The municipality of San Jose, better known as Carabao island, an emerging paradise, is blessed with pristine, white sand beach, rich and exotic marine ecology and clear emerald seas.
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