DoTr to start 75 new airport projects–Tugade

The Department of Transportation (DoTr) is set to start 75 new airport development projects to advance air connectivity and mobility of the country. 

In a statement on Monday, Transportation chief Arthur P. Tugade affirmed the government’s commitment to redevelop and build new gateways under the massive and ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program. 

“In a time when a pandemic hampered our path to economic progress, we at the DOTr, remain more determined and committed than ever to work,” Tugade said. 

According to the DoTr, the procurement and bidding processes for the airport developments are simultaneously ongoing.

The DoTr particularly plans to build a new Admin Building and upgrade the airfield ground lighting system of the Clark International Airport.

Airports in the provinces of Quezon, Ilocos Sur, Batanes, Aurora, Oriental Mindoro, Camarines Sur, Leyte, and Marinduque will also get a massive overhaul. 

According to Transportation assistant secretary Goddes Hope Libiran, the agency works round-the-clock to deliver significant changes in the sector before President Rodrigo Duterte steps down from office in 2022. 

To date, the DoTr completed 121 airport projects, while 114 are well underway. 

Last week, Tugade hinted that the government, through the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), might independently pursue the long-overdue rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). 

Tugade said he is confident that once additional airside-related projects in the NAIA are completed in the next two years, it can — on its own — achieve its airport development goal.

He pointed out that redeveloping the NAIA on its own is a “more practical approach, rather than awaiting and being dependent on the unsolicited proposal’s approval.”