NOY WANTS DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL AIRPORT 'RECONFIGURED' TO NEW NAIA
[PHOTO - THE DIOSDADO MACAPAGAL AIRPORT (CLARK AIRPORT)]
MANILA, OCTOBER 11, 2011 (TRIBUNE) By Angie M. Rosales - It is supposedly part of the so-called reconfiguration of projects done under the Arroyo administration but it might as well be a revival of the practice of erasing the past during the time of former President Cory Aquino, the incumbent's mother, as Transport-ation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II bared yesterday a plan to transfer the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the former Clark airfield which is currently the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport named after the former president who is Aquino's predecessor's father.
By privatization, Roxas was referring to the sale of the current property where the NAIA stands to pay for the transfer of the airport to Clark.
Roxas said Aquino specifically ordered the study for the renaming of the airport to the NAIA, which carries the name of his father, former Sen. Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino Jr.
Roxas told senators yesterday that on the government's drawing board is the transfer and privatization of the NAIA in Clark airfield in Angeles, Pampanga.
The relocation of the once premier international airport facility and the shift of
its operations to Clark is part of the "reconfiguration" being undertaken by Malacañang on projects of the former administration of Arroyo among which earlier announced were the revision of the North Rail Project, Roxas said during a budget hearing for the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) at the Senate.
"That is the direction the President directed us to work toward. Roughly the 440-hectares of NAIA will amount to $2.5-B dollars if privatized and that in effect will pay for the transfer into Clark. But the key to the transfer is the high speed track because without that then it really becomes very inconvenient," the Cabinet official explained to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Enrile brought up the issue of the aborted railway project in the light of the reported plan of the Executive department to pursue the said undertaking of the previous administration with the Chinese government as well as the controversial national broadband network (NBN), previously arranged to be carried out by the China-based ZTE Corp.
This was after President Aquino's official visit to China several weeks ago. "For the Senate President's information, President Aquino very successfully, was able to convince (China) President Hu Jintao, and Premier Wen Jiabao and party leader… to be open to reconfiguration of the north rail contract. The reconfiguration will correct many of the weaknesses, deficiencies or flaws as we see it from our point of view and the Chinese," Roxas said.
Enrile said he is supportive of the idea although he is more concerned on the planned revisions of the contract since the previous one, concerning both the north rail and NBN, "were onerous to the Republic."
"In the case of ZTE, I think the project itself is a good for the country. But we have to see to it that the financial burden to the Republic as a whole and the uses of the system will not be that heavy," the Senate leader said.
"The reconfiguration will not be physical but also on the contracts itself. The corrections that we will be working on will include, (that_ the Philippines will be the ones write the terms reference versus the existing situation. The Philippines will insist on a contractor with substantial rail contraction experience than a very, very large Chinese contractor but their experience is in dams, power projects and others but not in rail construction.
"I think their first project in rail will be in the Philippines. We are going to be like guinea pigs. Whoever contractor this will come from must have substantial experience," Roxas replied.
If the railway system will be carried out properly, Enrile said it will prove to be beneficial to the country because it will link and specially track Central Luzon with Metro Manila.
"We can transfer the international airport in Clark and leave the present international airport for further development. We need real estate. It is located in the center of the population and it has become valuable and we should now relocate, use it for some other purposes," Enrile said.
Furthermore, Enrile said, it could help decongest traffic in the metropolis and widen the road system.
"It will loosen the traffic in Metro Manila," he commented.
The Chinese government, despite the issues in the past, remained enthusiastic on providing the financing of the same projects, Roxas said.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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