Puerto Prinsesa local, tourism execs welcome airport upgrade

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines – The news that the $82.9-million design-and-build contract for the Puerto Princesa airport has finally been awarded by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to the Korean joint venture of Kumho Industrial Co. Ltd. and GS Engineering and Construction was greeted with cheers and jubilation in this city.

“It would truly be nice to have an airport where people can be really comfortable, unlike the one we have now that passengers complain a lot about,” said Ed Ahorro, president of the Puerto Princesa Tourism Council.

In a letter, Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron thanked DOTC Secretary Joseph Abaya for putting on track the airport modernization project that will see the construction of a new air navigation system, connecting taxiways, new passenger and cargo terminal buildings, apron, and other support facilities.

Early this week, Bayron said the 100-room Astoria Hotel Palawan in Barangay San Rafael made a soft opening, and next month, another five-star hotel, the Princesa Garden Island Resort and Spa, will open, thus the modernization of the Puerto Princesa airport “is heaven-sent.”

The project, he said, “will finally address the great inconvenience that our guests have had to endure in the very small and poorly equipped airport that we have at present.”

The city’s existing airport terminal has a carrying capacity of only 350,000 passengers a year. But in 2013, it handled about 1.35 million travelers, way above its capacity. When operational, the new airport complex will be able to accommodate up to two million passengers annually.