NAIA-3 to be fully operational by 2014

MACTAN, Cebu, Philippines  – The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) in Pasay City, which has been partially opened, will be fully operational before 2014, President Aquino said here yesterday.

Aquino said the government has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Takenaka group, the sub-contractor of NAIA-3 builder Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO), to complete the project.

“There’s an MOU already with the Takenaka group to finish the portion of the work that has been left aside, some structural corrections with regard to NAIA-3,” he said in an open forum at the Shangri-La Hotel here.

The President was the special guest in yesterday’s 108th General Membership Meeting of the 17th World Electronics Forum (WEF) and Semiconductors Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) which was attended by more than 200 top executives.

Aquino was asked when the NAIA-3 would be fully operational so that tourists and investors would be more enticed to come to the country.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II earlier said the government had allocated around P1 billion for the completion of the unfinished portions of the NAIA Terminal 3 after the project had been delayed by alleged irregularities.

He told fund managers during the Deutsche-REGIS Partners Investors’ conference held last November that the government would exercise “extraordinary diligence” in implementing all planned infrastructure projects, including the rehabilitation of NAIA-3.

The Department of Transportation and Communications forged an agreement with Takenaka for the repair of the airport.

The Pasay City Regional Trial Court had earlier ruled in favor of the government, allowing it to take full control of the uncompleted portion of NAIA-3.

With the court’s decision, Roxas said the government could now pursue talks with Takenaka for the completion of the airport.

“PIATCO is the one with the concession agreement with the government to build Terminal 3. Problem is, because of a dummy situation, PIATCO never had the money. The Supreme Court said there is no validity to the contract,” Roxas said.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado said that Leandro V. Locsin and Associates, the original architect of NAIA Terminal 1, is helping in the rehabilitation of Terminal 3. The design triumvirate of Budji Layug, Royal Pineda and Kenneth Cobonpue has also submitted plans for the terminal’s upgrading. 

The NAIA was recently voted as the “World’s Worst Airport to Sleep In” by the The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, a website of low-budget travelers who use airports as overnight motels to save money.

At least P450 million will be spent for the interior renovation while the parking development will cost around P500 million.