DOTC courts Korean companies to bid for Puerto Princesa airport

MANILA, Philippines -The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is urging Korean companies to join the bidding for the proposed P3.3 billion expansion of the Puerto Princesa international airport.

The DOTC has invited Korean engineering, procurement, and construction companies to bid for the $79.41 million design-build contract for the expansion of the Puerto Princesa airport that serves as the gateway to Palawan where the Underground River is located.

The Puerto Princesa Underground River was named part of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is expected to generate 1.2 million tourists by 2016 and two million tourists by 2025.

The DOTC said interested bidders have until Oct. 15 to submit their bids.

The Philippine government, through the Department of Finance (DOF), received a loan worth $71.61 million from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund of the Republic of Korea coursed through the Export-Import Bank of Korea.

The Puerto Princesa airport development project aims to improve the existing airport facilities by the expansion of its present capacity to meet the projected increase in air passenger and cargo demand.

The project involves the rehabilitation or improvement of the existing facilities to meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) through the construction of new landside facilities in the northwestern side of the existing runway such as passenger terminal building, control tower, administration building and  cargo terminal building.

The project also involves the construction of a rescue and fire fighting building as well as a new apron and connecting taxiways, and upgrading of the existing 2.6-kilometer runway and its strip, and the provision of new navigational and traffic control equipment.

The airport is seen revitalizing the transport and trade linkages under the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP EAGA).