DPWH: Maasin Airport access road budgeted

DPWH: Maasin Airport access road budgeted | Daily Tribune

MAASIN CITY — The Pana-awan or Maasin Airport serving commercial flights has gotten a big boost with funding for the construction of an access road under this year’s national budget.

Manolo Rojas, the district engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways, said the access road is among the 80 infrastructure projects with a P2.726 billion allocation for the district this year.

The airport’s terminal building was inaugurated in 2018 during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Department of Transportation is planning to upgrade the 36-hectare airport from a community airfield to a standard principal class 2 airport.

Once construction is finished, the airport will have parking areas, a powerhouse, access roads and aircon units.

The district, according to Roxas, will also build other major projects such as flood mitigation structures and drainage systems (P1.085 billion), road widening, road rehabilitation, and off-carriageway improvement (P1.045 billion), and construction of by-pass and diversion roads (P400 million).

The regular projects include the construction of access roads to declared tourism spots and other public facilities, widening of permanent bridges, and the construction of multi-purpose buildings, among others.

“These projects were closely coordinated with local officials of Southern Leyte, enabling us to identify projects aligned with both the national government’s thrusts and local needs,” Rojas said.

He said the planning and design section of DPWH Southern Leyte has already completed pre-detailed engineering activities of the 80 infrastructure projects for implementation this year.

Rojas added that included in the preparation are technical specifications, quantity and cost estimates, and the approved budget for the contract.

Bidding for the projects started on 7 November 2023 in observance of the Early Procurement Activities.

As of this writing, a total of 71 projects were successfully farmed out, while the rest were expected to substantially complete the bidding process by 20 March 2024.