We always think short-term. We cannot, as one wag says, look beyond the tip of our nose. And that’s a short one indeed.
This is why I welcome the news that government is putting the upgrade of the Naia terminals and airport on hold, while it studies other options for a really good and capacious airport to serve the nation’s capital. Proceeding with an upgrade of Naia may be beating a dying horse with so many precious pesos.
DOTr’s Secretary Art Tugade wants to have a more holistic approach to the airport situation, considering that air travel is expected to go up by leaps and bounds in the coming decade, even more.
Naia’s terminals (and there are three of them, not counting the small former domestic terminal which services short-haul budget flights) can be renovated, but nonetheless, there is only one runway. The other short and queerly perpendicular runway is of virtually no use, except for small general aviation aircraft whose landing and takeoffs even disrupt the timetable of the big planes which use the long runway.
What we need is an airport with at least two parallel runways. In the future, we have to look at expansion, as our domestic air traffic increases (simply because we are 7,100 islands), and as these islands and the tropical climate, along with our friendly nature, gets worldwide interest.
Clark has two parallel runways, but then again, they were designed for fighter jets which have short wing spans. Today’s commercial jets require parallel runways which are distant enough from each other so two planes can safely land and take off at the same time. But Clark has plenty of land, and CIAC can, with the wherewithal, construct another runway.
Sangley is also a possibility, advantageous because it is closer to Metro Manila, accessible through Cavitex, which can be lengthened through a causeway from Kawit where it presently ends all the way to Cavite City, creating reclaimed land between Cavite and Metro Manila, and more than enough real estate value to pay for the project. (Look at the map, and draw a straight line between Kawit and Cavite City, and see what I mean).
There is a proposal to build an entirely new airport in Bulacan, in the vicinity of Obando, that abuts into Manila Bay. This too is a possibility.
Any of these three options give potential for future expansion, which the present Naia complex, a mere 600 hectares, does not. To buy the private lands that surround the Naia complex is also too exorbitant to even contemplate.
Truth is, we need two major airports, one proximately north of Manila, and another proximately south of Manila. Sangley in the south, and Clark in the north, complement rather than compete with each other.
Sangley, however, competes for the airspace radius of Naia, while Clark does not. Clark has existing facilities, and a new parallel runway could be built, aside from a large terminal, without hampering the operations of the present runway. What Clark lacks is a fast transport system to connect it to Metro Manila. NLEX and SCTEX may be fast enough, but traffic slows down past the Mindanao Avenue and Balintawak portions, and crawls past it, through Edsa or the narrower streets leading to the metropolis. Build a rail system now, connecting Clark all the way to the airport, past QC, Pasig and Bonifacio Global in Taguig.
Sangley is a good alternative south of Manila, although it would take time and a lot of money, while land is reclaimed and the causeway from Cavite City to Kawit built, all at the same time. But because it will compete with Naia air space, the moment Sangley is completed and commissioned, we will have to de-commission the use of the Naia complex.
Meanwhile, government can plan on transferring the political capital into the Clark complex, anywhere within its 42,000 hectare area, and decongest the metropolis with its 12 -million population, one of the most dense people to land area ratio in the world. As of now, BCDA has earmarked 9,000 hectares into a Green City, and within the same, properly planned, a new national government center could rise. Malacañang can be transformed into a museum of Philippine history (feng shui masters say it has bad feng shui anyhow) and the other national government buildings, especially in the Elliptical Center, can be sold or leased to the private sector.
With the Entertainment City in the Pasay reclamation area, and a beautified Intramuros, Manila can be financial, shopping, entertainment and cultural capital rolled into one, with tourists flying in through Sangley, pass by the causeway, all in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, people residing north of Metro Manila, including the cities of Quezon, Valenzuela, Caloocan and parts of Rizal, can provide the needed traffic for Clark. And with the national capital relocated therein, with Subic port a few minutes away as well by rail and by land transport, imagine a new future with less traffic, and dispersed population.
What to do with the Naia complex, if Sangley is to be the southern air and sea gateway?
Why, convert it into a park, for all to enjoy. A new and large “lung” for Metro Manila, filled with trees and greenery, flora and orchidaria, man-made lakes (a catch basin for floods as well) and fountains. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Imagine a Central Park or a Bois de Boulogne for the metropolis? Convert urban decay into urban renewal.
And ring it with multi-level parking spaces, so that those who do not have carports in their homes could rent the same, instead of cluttering narrow streets with their parked vehicles.
Expensive? Maybe, but believe me, we have wasted more money on failed projects, short-term solutions, and the usual corruption. What if we invest into a better future, through adequate and effective infrastructure?
Dreaming? No, just looking forward. Looking into a better future.