DAVAO CITY — The development of the P40.57-billion Davao International Airport (DIA) in the city should soon be under way as the project is now in the procurement stage, according to Regional Development Council (RDC)-Davao Region Chair Rodolfo del Rosario.
“The Davao Airport is now in the process of procurement. It’s now a go as far as the airport is concerned,” Mr. del Rosario said in a press conference at the National Economic Development Authority office on Monday.
In a State of the Region Address also that day, Mr. del Rosario said of the DIA and the Davao Sasa Port: “Both of these gateways are expected to significantly improve the Region’s physical connectivity and boost the Region as well as Mindanao’s economic development,” he said.
He said the Davao Airport Operations, Maintenance and Development Project aims to provide additional facilities and other improvements designed to enhance operations, passenger safety, security, and access, and passenger and cargo movements.
The project aims to decongest the airport, said to be the third busiest in the country but also currently operating beyond its capacity.
Among the six firms identified by the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center as project prospects to pre-qualify and bid are GMR-Megawide, Metro Pacific-JG Summit Consortium, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, San Miguel Corp. Philippine Skylanders, Inc., and Union Equity. DIA has an estimated two million passengers and 84,600 tons of cargo every year. The $128-million airport, which was inaugurated in 2003, covers a sprawling 209 hectares.
Among its features are a single 3,000-meter precision runway that can accommodate wide-body aircraft, parking space that can accommodate 688 cars, a Central Plant Building, Fire, Crash and Rescue Building and an Airfield Maintenance Building.
The P1-billion Malay-inspired terminal building has as much as 9,000 square meters (sq.m) of space for concessionaires.
The airport was upgraded 10 years ago, partly through a $41-million loan from the Asian Development Bank and a $23-million loan from the European Investment Bank.
The DIA project will include expansion of the passenger terminal building, from 65,000 to 125,000 sq.m; cargo terminal building expansion, from 13,000 to 27,000 sq.m.; and other key facilities.
The airport’s planned development is part of a bundled maintenance project for five regional airports — the others being the airports in Bacolod-Silay (amounting to P20.26 billion), Iloilo (P30.40 billion), Laguindingan (P14.62 billion), and New Bohol (P2.34 billion).
7 June 2016
By Carmencita A. Carillo
