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Friday, March 29, 2024

Govt pushes Sangley airport

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The Transportation Department is pushing for Sangley Point in Cavite as the site of the new gateway that will replace the old Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the proposal, based on the recommendation of  Japan for International Cooperation Agency, was being studied by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Abaya

“What Jica gave us was an interim report on the location. That is being processed now by Neda,” Abaya told reporters.

“The full feasibility study should be done by March or April [2016]. But realistically what you could expect is a Neda board approval on a location, not the project itself. That [project] will be subject of a separate approval,” he said.

The new airport at Sangley Point, a former naval station of the US Navy in the northern tip of Cavite surrounded by Manila Bay, is envisioned to replace the congested Naia.

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Abaya said Sangley was a logical decision for the new airport, upon the recommendation of Jica.

“That’s one decision we can make for the next administration, deciding where the next airport will be and also for business and ordinary folks,” Abaya said.

The proposed international airport, with an estimated cost of P435.93 billion, can accommodate 55 million passengers and 400,000 aircraft movements annually.

“Roughly, we are still on schedule. It’s too big and the Japanese are meticulous,” Abaya said.

The proposed airport is projected to be operational by 2025.

The government wants to build a new international airport that is 25 to 30 minutes away from Naia, which is expected to reach its full capacity soon.

Jica said Naia would hit overcapacity this year, by which time the terminal will handle 37.78 million passengers. By 2040, passenger traffic would reach 101.49 million.

Naia accommodated 31.88 million passengers in 2012, exceeding the 30 million yearly optimal capacity of the terminal. Its maximum handling capacity stands at 35 million passengers a year.

San Miguel Corp., which used to operate Philippine Airlines, earlier proposed to build a new international airport at a reclaimed area along the Manila-Cavity Coastal Road for $10 billion. San Miguel returned the control of PAL to tycoon Lucio Tan.

The proposed airport would have an international and domestic passenger handling capacity of 75 million passengers a year, with scalability to accommodate  to more than 100 million passengers.

It would be only 11 minutes away from the Makati central business district via a new airport expressway.

Abaya, a former congressman representing the first district of Cavite, said Sangley airport would be one of the “game-changing” infrastructure projects the Aquino administration would push in its last months in office.

The Transportation Department earlier tapped Jica to conduct the feasibility study for the new long-term international gateway.

“Clearly, the location will be Sangley because of the Jica study. We did not choose the site, we just gave them parameters,” Abaya said earlier.

Sangley Point, now known as Danilo Atienza Air Base of the Philippine Air Force, is a part of Cavite City located 17 kilometers south of Manila.

Abaya said Jica had considered all possible sites and Sangley Point fit all the criteria.

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