04/19/2010 [ tribune.net.ph ]
The country’s newest ultra-modern airport is on track, Jack Enrile, senior provincial economic adviser of Cagayan province, said yesterday.
“This is the northern gateway to the Philippines,” Enrile said of the P1.66-billion international airport that will open its runway to wide-bodied jets this year.
“It will be another pioneering achievement in Cagayan Valley’s fast changing role as the economic epicenter in Northeast Luzon,” he added.
“And it is just in time for the opening of Southeast Asia as a unified regional economy by 2015,” Jack Enrile, who is running virtually unopposed in Cagayan’s 1st congressional district, pointed out.
“The modern airport will be a perfect match to the P3.386-billion Port Irene, an alternative access by sea, instead of Metro Manila, to Northern Luzon, and vice-versa from Cagayan to the world,” Enrile said.
“The new international airport will drastically change travel and trade in the region,” Enrile said. “It would transform Cagayan into a major transshipment point for trade and investment destination for Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Pacific-rim countries.”
A 46-meter wide, 2,200-meter runway, with paved apron and tarmac, is designed to accommodate two large aircraft simultaneously.
The modern airport, control tower and 1,000-square meter terminal building is being constructed according to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
It started with a commitment from the Spanish government in 2007 to provide grants assistance to the Philippines. The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) applied for a technical assistance grant offered by the Spanish FEV (Linea de Financiacion de Estudios de Viabilidad) for the conduct of feasibility study, master planning and preliminary engineering design for an international airport in Cagayan.
Ceza, guided by the procurement of consulting services guidelines prescribed by the Spanish government, began the selection process which was witnessed by the Spanish Economic Counselor. The grant was approved on Jan. 22, 2009.
A shortlist of qualified Spanish companies to undertake the planning and study — which included the master planning and design of the international airport — was forwarded to Ceza by the Spanish Embassy.
Getinsa Ingenieria SL, a Madrid-based engineering firm, submitted the best proposal to Ceza and was awarded the contract after a letter of “no objection” was received from the Spanish government.
Getinsa conducts studies and engineering projects worldwide; it has an office in Manila and is a consultant for the World Bank in the Philippines.
In September last year, Ceza and the private consortium Cagayan Land Property Development Corp. (CLPDC) signed the 50-year joint venture agreement to put up the international airport in Barangays San Mariano and Dagupan, Lallo town.
The joint venture has CLPDC putting in 58.3 percent of the total equity, or P966 million. Ceza’s share is 41.7 percent, or P691 million.
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