Clark officials eye completion of P3-billion Terminal 2 project before 2010

MANILA, Philippines - Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) officials expressed high hopes yesterday that the P3-billion Terminal 2 project of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) would be finished before the end of 2010.

CIAC vice-president for administration and finance Romeo N. Dyoco Jr. said the Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) technical working group is evaluating and checking the eligibility of the proposal of private sector Proponent (PSP) Pacific Avia Group Inc. (PAGI).

This includes the evaluation of PAGI’s detailed negotiations with CIAC to enhance their proposal and the eligibility check of local and foreign partners in the consortium.

Dyoco said the JVSC technical working group has until March 28 to complete the evaluation and eligibility check of PAGI’s proposals.

He said should PAGI pass the evaluation and eligibility check, it would then undergo a competitive challenge with other interested proponents to build, finance, design and operate the Terminal 2 project as a joint venture partner of CIAC.

Dyoco said he is optimistic the project would be completed by September 2010 if all goes smoothly. “We will have the new terminal at the airport before the end of 2010,” he said.

PAGI’s foreign partners include Selex, Egis and Leigthon, while their local partners are A.M. Oreta Construction Co., DHL Philippines, DRI Holdings, EGIS AVIA S.A., Pentagon Development Corp., the Bank of Commerce, and law firm Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose.

The new terminal is seen to accommodate three to seven million passengers annually, and can service long-haul commercial airlines in accordance with President Arroyo’s vision of making the DMIA the premier gateway of the country.

CIAC is in the process of selecting a private sector proponent to design, finance, construct and operate Terminal 2 in accordance with the 2008 joint venture guidelines and other pertinent references and coordination with the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

The existing DMIA Terminal-1 was designed to accommodate only up to two million passengers annually. It was inaugurated by President Arroyo in April 2008 to service the growing passenger volume due to the entry of foreign and local budget carriers at the airport.

The airport is serviced by Cebu Pacific Air which flies to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Macau and daily to Cebu; Tiger Airways of Singapore which flies out of Clark to Singapore; Air Asia of Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu; Asiana Airlines of South Korea to Incheon with connecting flights to the United States and, South East Asian Airlines (Seair) which flies to Caticlan, the jump-off point to world-famous Boracay Island.

CIAC is currently in talks with a major Middle East carrier and long-haul flights are expected to start this year.