Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade vowed his agency will speed up the completion of the modern Bicol International Airport in Daraga, Albay that will be the global gateway to Southern Luzon, particularly the Bicol Region, and parts of the Visayas.
Stalled intermittently in the past, BIA’s completion has been deemed urgent by the Duterte administration. It is one of the first 10 big projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordinating Committee.
In a meeting of top DOTr officials in Ortigas, Tugade assured Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda that the government would soon award the winning bidders the completion of the BIA runway and rebid the passenger terminal building. The Albay congressman said the entire DOTr management team has assured Bicolanos the BIA will have modern facilities that meet international standards.
In the same meeting, Tugade also discussed the P171-billion Southline of the North-South Railway Project. It was originally proposed and pushed by the solon when he was Albay governor and chairman of the Bicol Regional Development Council and the Luzon Regional Development Committee. Salceda said Tugade assured him the long-awaited NSRP Southline will push through as approved.
He said the P708-million allocation for BIA’s Project 2A which includes 17 buildings and land-side facilities will soon be awarded, while its Project 2B component which covers the completion of its runway, apron, “two-stub taxiway” and the passenger terminal building costing P1.4 billion will be rebid shortly based on existing terms of reference.
The BIA will have passenger boarding bridges (PTB) or passage tubes, designed modularly to accommodate the addition of more tubes in the future. Tugade has committed at least two tubes initially, worth P105 million once the PTB commences construction.
According to Salceda, Tugade has also committed that the present DOTr management will shortly start work on the NSRP Southline to Legazpi where the previous administration had left off, particularly the publication of instructions to bidders.
Salceda supports the proposed transfer of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Clark, an option that will make BIA an even more attractive alternative gateway on account of its proximity, both by land and sea travel. NSRP’s South Luzon Railways Line will also compliment the BIA setup.
Albay’s 2025 goals include five million tourists, $1-billion investments and 235,000 jobs, should the BIA meet its 2018 completion deadline. These benefits are expected to spill over to the whole of the Bicol Region.
As the only international gateway airport south of Manila, BIA’s completion on time augurs well for the tourism prospects of Albay, the Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon Tourism Alliance and Bicolandia, Salceda stressed.