The planned airport in Bohol’s prime tourist destination—which will dwarf its current aviation hub by more than 10 times—will rise two years after President Aquino steps down from office in 2016, a Cabinet official said.
This was the assurance of Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya on Wednesday, after he and key officials of Japanese joint venture Mitsubishi Corp. and Chiyoda Corp. signed the P7-billion contract for the construction of the New Bohol (Panglao) Airport that day.
“Tourists in Bohol continue to grow each year that passes. Unfortunately, the current airport may not be able to accommodate the increase over time. This gives us the need to cater to the increasing number of tourists, and this means modernizing and expanding the airport with a design that is of international standards,” he said.
The project will commence in June and is expected to be completed within 30 months, or in late 2017 to early 2018.
The New Bohol Airport will replace the current Bohol gateway, the Tagbilaran Airport, which is the 11th busiest airport in the country.
Tagbilaran airport catered to around 789,800 passengers in 2013 despite its size of only 850 square meters.
“The airport compound could be developed as a commercial space,” Bohol Gov. Edgardo M. Chatto said separately.
Abaya added that the Tagbilaran Airport will have to be cease its operations once the new aviation hub opens due to its proximity to each other.
The first greenfield airport under the Aquino administration is 10 times bigger than the Tagbilaran Airport, with a floor area of around 8,800 sq m, boosting the annual passenger capacity to 1.7 million passengers.
In line with Bohol’s eco-tourism branding, the airport will have environment friendly and energy saving features such as the installation of LED lights. To add to that, only the predeparture area will have air conditioning, operating with solar powered energy, while the rest of the areas will be open.
“Our past experience shows that implementing a project of big magnitude, such as construction of a new airport from scratch, is not an easy task,” Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) Chief Representative to the Philippines Niwa Noriaki said.
“At times, project implementation challenges can test the harmony between contracting parties, which, if not resolved, may lead to delays in project progress and more so the postponement of delivering the intended benefits to the people.”
In order to provide better service for passengers, the transportation department is also in the process of bidding out the operations and maintenance of the airport.