EDITORIAL - Waiting for rehabilitation

Last June, the Department of Transportation and Communications had announced a breakthrough in negotiations for the rehabilitation of the third terminal of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Six months and a new DOTC secretary later, department officials have again announced that the agreement with Japanese builder Takenaka Corp. may be signed in the first week of the coming year.

The public can only hope the signing will push through and rehabilitation of the NAIA Terminal 3 can finally start. The holidays have once again shown the inadequacy of the main NAIA terminal – whether inside the airport complex or at the tiny parking lot outside. Almost every night as Christmas approached, traffic on MIA Road and the overpass leading to the main terminal was at a standstill.

Takenaka will have to rehabilitate or upgrade 23 systems required to make the NAIA 3 fully operational. These include systems for baggage handling, flight information displays, fire alarm and protection, passenger loading bridges, and building management. DOTC officials said the upgrade would cost $40 million, to be deducted from the compensation being demanded from the government by NAIA 3 contractor Philippine International Air Terminals Co.

Piatco had commissioned Takenaka to build the terminal in 1998. The terminal is designed to handle 33,000 passengers daily at a peak of 6,000 passengers per hour. With 34 air bridges and 20 contact gates, the terminal is supposed to be able to service 28 planes simultaneously. It would be a welcome addition to the NAIA’s two terminals, providing a much-needed boost to the local travel industry. But construction was halted in 2002 after the deal became entangled in a corruption scandal.

There are many horror stories about the NAIA, and even administration officials admit that the nation’s premier airport is way behind those of several of the country’s neighbors. Making the NAIA 3 fully operational will be a badly needed boost, however modest, to the nation’s limited airport infrastructure. The rehabilitation of NAIA 3 is long overdue.