Aquino set to receive Manila airport's improvement plan next week

Friday, November 4, 2011

A TEMPORARY improvement plan for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) will be presented to Malacañang next Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino III said in an interview over video sharing site YouTube.

Calling it a stop-gap measure, President Aquino said the plan will tackle proposed structural and aesthetic improvements to the airport named after his martyred father, Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

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“It will be a stop-gap measure for the next four or five years because we are looking at an alternative for that complex given the fact that it will be hard for us to support the 10 million tourist arrivals that we are targeting,” he said on Friday.

NAIA particularly Terminal 1, now ranks first among the “Worst Airports in the World,” according to “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” an interactive website that gathers reports from various reviewers.

The President said the airport is heavily saturated, acknowledging the need to improve it or look for possible alternatives to support the country’s growing tourism sector.

The whole complex is designed for 32 million arrivals, and it is now approaching 30 million, he added.

Travelers reportedly complained of safety concerns, lack of comfortable seating, rude staff, hostile security, poor facilities, bribery, among others.

Earlier, the Aquino administration said it plans to relocate NAIA from Pasay City to Clark, Pampanga.

However, Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II said the plan depends on the success of the NorthRail project and the privatization of the existing NAIA property.

At the same time, the government aims to raise around $2.5 billion with the privatization of the 440-hectare NAIA property to fund NAIA’s relocation to Clark. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)