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PRESIDENT Arroyo will lead the inauguration of the
P112.9-million expanded passenger terminal of the
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) at the
Clark Freeport Zone today, Friday.
The
expanded passenger terminal can accommodate 2 million
passengers annually, up from the earlier 500,000 a year,
after the capacity was saturated by the arrival of more
than 533,000 passengers from both international and
domestic flights last year.
The DMIA,
managed and operated by the Clark International Airport
Corp. (Ciac), has been experiencing unprecedented growth
in recent years with at least 60 commercial flights a
week by international airlines Air Asia, Tiger Airways,
Asiana, Hong Kong Express and
China
Southern, and domestic carriers Seair, Cebu Pacific and
Asian Spirit.
The
civil-renovation work for the expanded terminal cost
P55.9 million. The terminal now has a floor area of
6,279 square meters, consisting of predeparture,
check-in lobby, baggage claim area and the arrival area,
or an additional 914 sq. m from the previous 5,365-sq. m
area translating to increased capacity.
The
expanded terminal also features an additional
immigration counter, five new airline offices, a
concessionaires’ area and five airline-ticketing offices
at the meeters’-greeters’ area. There are also new
restrooms at the coffee shop at the predeparture area.
A new
baggage conveyor at the arrival area and a check-in
conveyor with carousel at the check-in area, costing a
total of P23 million, have also been installed at the
expanded terminal.
The new
terminal also features state-of-the-art x-ray machines
worth P10.2 million; backup generators worth P14
million; close-circuit televisions worth P4.9 million;
and flight information display systems worth P4.9
million.
Ciac
will soon embark on the development of the Terminal 2
project, which is expected to start by the middle of
this year.
The
Terminal 2 project will increase terminal capacity to 7
million to 8 million passengers annually.
Ciac
president Victor Jose Luciano, executive vice president
Alexander Cauguiran, vice president for operations and
DMIA general manager Bienvenido Manga and vice president
for finance Romeo Dyoco Jr. will welcome the President
at her arrival at the airport.
Luciano
will lead the blessing of the new expanded terminal at
about 9:30 a.m., to be officiated by Archbishop Paciano
Aniceto, followed by a ribbon-cutting, to be led by
President Arroyo, at
10 a.m.
The
President will also witness the signing of two
agreements between Ciac and Kuwait Gulf and Link (KGL)
and SIA Engineering Co., after which Luciano will assist
the President in a walking tour of the expanded
terminal.
The
expansion is in accordance with President Arroyo’s
declaration on January 29 that DMIA will be the
country’s premier international airport, giving a time
frame of six months to one year for her directive to be
implemented.
Luciano
said DMIA is increasing its capacity to keep up with the
continuing growth in passenger volume. Most OFWs from
nearby Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia,
Bangkok, Macau and Hong Kong now prefer the DMIA because
of the budget airlines that have catapulted the airline
industry in Central Luzon.
“OFWs
headed overseas no longer have to travel all the way to
Manila to catch their flights because DMIA is right at
their doorstep. Cheap fares also allow our beloved OFWs
to go home as often as they want,” Luciano said.
The
developments at the DMIA are also in line with the
President’s vision to establish a logistics and services
hub in the Clark-Subic corridor for the Asia-Pacific
Region, with the international airport in Clark and
Subic as the site of a deep-sea port.
The two
growth centers will soon be connected by the
P20.5-billion, 93.77-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway,
which is expected to be completed by the end of April.
The
expressway will speed up the transport of goods between
the deep-sea port and the international airport. |
