Clark Freeport—The management of Clark International Airport is bidding out the P500-million plan for its mixed-use passenger terminal this month.
Clark International Airport Corp. president and chief executive officer Imigdio Tanjuatco said over the weekend that the bidding was the result of the rejection of the year-long planning and designing prepared by the Aeroport De Paris on a grant basis.
Tanjuatco told newsmen that the board of the National Economic and Development Authority rejected the plan because it was “too ambitious” for eight million passengers who are expected to use the airport by year 2022.
According to Tanjuatco, the Neda board was worried that the airport, once completed, will only become a white elephant because its designed capacity is only for one million passengers a year.
With the junking of the ADP plan, the completion target year of 2017 of the airport is now in limbo; it will take a new course to prepare another new plan.
The board has instead decided to implement, on staggered basis, three phases for the anticipated 8 million passenger capacity.
The Clark airport hosts only seven budget carriers—Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, Jin Air, Tiger Air of Singapore, Air Asia Berhad and Cebu Pacific Air with estimated 1.3 million passengers a year.
Another airline, Dubai-based Emirates, will reassume its operation here on March 30, 2016.
Seven other budget airlines are planning to operate from Clark—V Air of Taiwan, Jet Star of Singapore, regional carrier Thai Smile, Rayani Air of Malaysia, Express Air of Indonesia, Air India, and Airline 4.0 from the US.
The budget of P500 million for the amalgamated use of the new passengers terminal comes from the General Appropriation Act of 2015 and 2016 which released P1.2 billion and P2 billion, respectively. The amounts are part of the P15-billion total budget of the airport for 15 years, the airport executive said.
The new plan and design will include architecture and detailed engineering for the diverse use of the airport.
“Whoever the new tenant of Malacañang would be, we hope he will continue the project because the foundation is already there,” Tanjuatco added.
For almost a year, the Aeroport De Paris has prepared the architecture and engineering plan and design of the airport including passengers terminal, control tower, aircraft hangar and maintenance facilities until it was rejected, junked and ignored by the government.
