TAGBILARAN CITY - The local government of Panglao expressed confidence that the construction of the New Bohol Airport will be completed as scheduled by March 2018.
Operations at the P7.8-billion facility are targeted to start in June 2018, officials said.
Panglao Mayor Nila Montero said she and other municipal officials visited the site of the New Bohol Airport on Aug. 9 to check the status of the project, billed as the "Green Gateway to the World.”
Photos posted on Facebook by the municipal team showed that the runway has been partially paved and the administration building and control tower are taking shape.
Montero said representatives of Japan Airport Consultants (JAC) presented to them the status of the project on the same day at the conference hall of the municipal hall.
The mayor, together with Sangguniang Bayan members and some department heads, then headed to the project site after the report by JAC.
With the mayor were SB Members Yolie Hormachuelos, Aya Montero, Dennis Hora, and Cres Arbutante, Engr. Bonao, municipal assessor Josefina Penales, acting MPDC Jairus Fuderanan, MDRRMO Arthur Bagcat, and Executive Assistant Danilo Reyes.
By June 2018, the airport will be ready for a sunrise-to-sunset operation with day flights of international standard.
By December 2018, the modern airport’s operation will be expanded to 24 hours daily.
According to JAC, the New Bohol Airport can accommodate seven aircraft at one time, including large aircraft for international flights. Immigration officers will be assigned to the airport.
Once the new airport becomes operational, the Tagbilaran Airport will be immediately closed and transformed into the Bohol Business Park.
A monorail, the first in Bohol, will initially connect the business park to the new airport as well as the towns of Albur, Corella and Maribojoc. The Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) has already completed the blueprint for the monorail system.
The notice to commence work on the main civil works for the project was issued on June 15, 2015 and construction went full swing on June 22 of the same year.
The project includes the construction of a 2,000-meter runway which is projected for expansion to 3,000 meters, other airside facilities such as two taxiways and apron, and an 8,361-square-meter passenger terminal building.
Other buildings now being constructed under the current project phase are the control tower, administration building, fire station, and ancillary buildings.
Also to be installed is the navigation system which is the ILS-VOR-DME complex or the instrument landing system/very high frequency omni-directional Range/Distance Measuring Equipment complex.
Other facilities are access roads, car parks, drainage system, and a soaking yard with the capacity of 200,000 tons. Power supply system, water supply system, and sewage treatment system will also be established. (PNA)
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