TACLOBAN CITY -- The Calbayog Airport, eyed as the region’s alternative to the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in this city, got a PHP357-million budget for improvement in the next two years.
The development of Samar’s busiest airport will continue until 2019, Department of Transportation (DOTr) Project Management Service Director Eduardo Mangalili said in a project presentation here Tuesday.
“This year, the airport got a budget of PHP248 million for the completion of widening of runway, apron expansion, runway strip grade correction, construction of runway safety area, construction of vertically separated approaches, and construction of perimeter and security fence,” Mangalili said.
The DOTr had bid out the 2018 project two weeks ago and civil works will proceed this year, said the DOTr official.
For the 2015 to 2017 appropriations, the airport got an allocation of PHP781 million. The past releases was meant for widening of runway, including shoulder grade correction, asphalt overlay, passenger terminal building, apron and taxiway construction, expanded runway site expansion, and shore protection area.
In May 2017, DOTr started the construction of new passenger terminal and site development. It is expected to be finished on April 28, 2019, Mangalili added.
The construction will increase the passenger capacity of the airport tenfold from the present 450 square meters (sqm) to 4,500 sqm.
The airport's apron will also be expanded to comply with International Civil Aviation Organization standards as the present ramp is too narrow to support an airbus A320 jet.
The airport that serves more than 2,000 passengers monthly has a runway length of 2,100 meters and is classified by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines as a minor domestic airport.
Calbayog, one of the biggest cities in the country in terms of land area, has regular flights to Clark by Philippine Airlines and to Cebu by Cebu Pacific.
The Duterte administration committed the full development of the Calbayog Airport until 2022 with a price tag of PHP1.2 billion. (PNA)
