NAIA-3 found to be structurally flawed

MANILA, Philippines - Studies have found structural flaws in the nine-year-old Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3), which suffered a partial ceiling collapse in 2006, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Manuel Roxas II said Friday.

Two engineering companies and one engineers’ association that examined NAIA-3 found flaws of varying degrees of seriousness, Roxas said. He said one study found only slight defects that can easily be fixed, another said it’s more serious and the third believes it’s “very serious.” The terminal was largely completed in 2002 but not opened until 2008 because of a legal fight between the government and the terminal consortium led by Germany’s Fraport AG.

Asked what the defects were, Roxas said: “Part of it design, part of it is the execution.” He did not elaborate.

A government attempt to open the showcase terminal in 2006 was marred when part of a ceiling collapsed. No one was injured.

Takenaka Corp., a Japanese company that was subcontracted by the consortium to build the terminal, maintains it has no defect.

Roxas said the government “has taken every precaution” to ensure passenger safety but that the measures are only “stopgap in nature and our objective is still to fix the structural flaws.”

The government will have the terminal subjected to stress tests using computer simulation and other procedures to determine the extent of the defects.

“Structural defect means it can fall on your head, so we have to resolve that,” Roxas said. “Isn’t it that the most responsible thing to do now is to find out which of these (assessments) is correct rather than just mindlessly react?”

Meanwhile, Roxas also said the DOTC is planning to transfer NAIA’s general aviation area – where small air charter firms, air freight companies and flying schools have their hangars and operate their respective flights – to either Sangley Point in Cavite or the Fernando Air Base compound in Lipa, Batangas.

He said the DOTC will provide assistance to the firms that will be affected by the transfer, which had been raised by local aviation industry stakeholders as a way to decongest the NAIA complex.

The proponents noted that other countries do not have pilot schools or general aviation firms operating out of their international airports.

– Rainier Allan Ronda, AP