MORE NEWS, NUEVA VIZCAYA

GMA gives P70M for Nueva Vizcaya airport

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Viz­caya – President Arroyo, through the Department of Transportation and Communications has poured an additional funding of P70 million for the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrading of Bagabag Airport. Land Transportation, Fran­chising and Regulatory Board Chairman Thompson Lantion, also DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza’s concurrent spokesperson, said the fund was already approved in the DOTC’s 2008 budget.

This, he added, was aside from the P8 million released earlier for the ongoing construction of the airport’s control tower, which will be completed by May this year. 

“This control tower will eventually be equipped with state-of-the-art ground control equipment and its tarmac will be both paved and extended to enable it to service medium-size aircraft,” said Lantion. 

The airport’s continued rehabilitation and upgrading, which include the extension of the airport’s runway to at least 1.2 kms to accommodate medium-sized passenger planes and smaller cargo planes was part of the President’s commitment during her visit here last year. “The continued rehabilitation of the airport is one of the department’s priorities, which is in line with the President’s vision of fast-tracking economic and tourism development in the region and in central Cordillera areas,” he said. 

Already, he said, three local air companies – Asian Spirit, SEAir and Air Philippines, have shown interest in plying the Bagabag airport route, which is also intended to serve tourists interested in visiting the nearby Ifugao rice terraces and even the caves in Sagada, Mountain Province. It would also serve as jump off point to the island province of Batanes and to the Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte. 

The rehabilitation and upgrading of the five-decade-old airport, first rehabilitated during the administration of Mrs. Arroyo’s father, President Diosdado Macapagal, is part of the President’s priority projects announced during a recent State of the Nation Address in connection with her campaign to develop super-regions in the country. 

Located in Bagabag town here, the airport was then upgraded to accommodate bigger aircrafts to cater to more foreign and local tourists who were coming in droves for the Banaue Rice Terraces in neighboring Ifugao province during the Marcos regime. -- CL