|
Thursday, January 22, 2004
GMA win at May polls bad news for Naia terminal 3
By Cherry T. Lim
THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) 3 “will never open” unless the legal issues and the operational issues surrounding it are settled, said a top airline official.
And if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) wins a fresh mandate in the May polls, this will be the last nail on the coffin of the controversial $650-million project.
During a visit to Cebu last week, Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Avelino Zapanta said the terminal was “built on the wrong side of the runway. Everything else is on the other side.”
“They did not build the taxiway. There is no access road,” making things difficult for the transport of cargo and the movement of passengers wanting to take connecting flights at other terminals.
“No airline will operate there,” he concluded.
He said the “legal issues” could also take years to resolve.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a consortium led by Fraport AG of Germany to win back the passenger terminal franchise, AFP said.
The Supreme Court last May had invalidated the franchise awarded by the Estrada administration to Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (Piatco), a consortium that includes airport operator Fraport, saying changes that had been made to the original deal were disadvantageous to government.
The terminal, designed to handle 13 million passengers yearly, was supposed to have opened in 2002, to ease passenger traffic at two existing terminals in Manila airport. Now there are fears it will become a white elephant.
“If GMA wins, she will push for Clark,” Zapanta said.
The airport in Clark Field, Pampanga is named after her father, Diosdado Macapagal, a former Philippine president.
To bolster his theory, he said: “North Rail is now being built.”
When it is finished, it will take just 30 minutes to one hour for people to travel between Manila and Clark.
Naia 2 Zapanta said what the government should have done to increase the capacity of Manila to accept more air passengers was to just expand the Naia 2.
“Nayong Pilipino is now gone. We can expand Naia 2. The only problem is the hotel, but we can link it to the terminal,” he said.
Despite yesterday’s ruling, other issues remain.
Fraport, which owns 61 percent of the consortium, last month filed an arbitration request with the World Bank after the Philippine government failed to offer compensation to the German firm for its lost investment, a report said.
And Fraport AG officials have alleged that Malacañang and the Supreme Court connived in an extortion attempt on the German firm.
(January 22, 2004 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
