THE Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) is set to bid out the contract for the construction of the P10-billion Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) Terminal 2 in the third quarter of the year, with at least three foreign groups already making known their interest to build it.

Victor Jose Luciano, president and chief executive officer of CIAC, said his company is now finalizing the provisions of the terms of reference (TOR) and will probably have it ready in a month.

“We will have the TOR in one month and then announce it for an international bidding,” Luciano said.

He said an important feature of the TOR is that the winning proponent should introduce new technology to the terminal.

Also, Luciano said CIAC would want more commercial spaces like duty-free shops and restaurants.

After bidding out the contract, Luciano said CIAC wants construction to start in the fourth quarter of the year so the terminal will be ready for commercial operation by the end of 2009.

“Several groups have already expressed interest in it,” he said.

One of them, he said, is the builder of the Changi Airport in Singapore, which intends to partner with a local firm in undertaking the project.

The other groups that are interested, he said, is a Middle Eastern firm and a Chinese developer.

The DMIA Terminal 2, Luciano said, will increase the passenger capacity of the international airport to 8 million.

This, he said, is needed as they expect passenger arrivals in the airport to reach three million by 2010, especially if President Arroyo would sign Executive Order 500-B, which would further liberalize the DMIA.

Aside from this, Luciano said the government has intensified its negotiations with different countries for new air agreements so the airport will get more flight entitlements.

“Our big job now is to market Clark with the momentum we already gained,” he said.

APPROVED investments of foreign investors in the first quarter was not enough to pull up the amount of total approved investments in the said period, which declined by 6.3 percent, according to a report released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) on Thursday.

THE Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) is set to bid out the contract for the construction of the P10-billion Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) Terminal 2 in the third quarter of the year, with at least three foreign groups already making known their interest to build it.

THE Philippine government is eyeing to maintain the existing P25 per kilogram price for subsidized rice distributed by the National Food Authority (NFA) in public markets, an official of the NFA said.

THE country’s palay production during the lean months of July, August and September is expected to reach 3.45 million metric tons (MMT), or 9.5 percent higher than paddy production for the third quarter of 2007, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Eleven years since its inception, benefits from the Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act (Afma) have yet to be felt by farmers and fishermen.

CABANATUAN CITY—Small and medium entrepreneurs and government officials here gave a thumbs-up sign Tuesday for the innovative food-processing product of a Nueva Ecija noodle maker.

LUCENA CITY—The provincial government of Quezon jump-started biofuel production in the country when Quezon Gov. Raffy Nantes signed on Wednesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA)  with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP)and the Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) for the massive production and processing of jatropha in the entire province.