CONSTRUCTION of the P7.5-billion Bohol Panglao International Airport, the 11th busiest airport in the country, is ongoing and is slated for completion in 2017.
National Economic and Development Authority 7 Director Efren Carreon said the new airport will replace the existing Tagbilaran Airport. The new airport is intended to to support Bohol’s tourism industry, especially on Panglao Island, which is being promoted as an alternative destination to Boracay.
Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) declared Mitsubishi Corp. and Chiyoda Corp. as the winning bidders of the project.
However, Carreon said a separate contract bidding will be undertaken for the management operations and maintenance of the new Bohol airport.
According to DOTC, the Panglao Airport, a project funded through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, will feature a floor area of about 8,800 square meters, with an annual passenger capacity of 1.7 million passengers. It will also include a 2,000-meter runway suited to meet international standards.
In his state of the province address in February, Bohol Governor Edgar M. Chatto said a resettlement project in Tawala, Panglao was undertaken for the households affected by the airport construction. Houses were already turned over to the homeowners last November 2014, the governor said.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the Visayas, DOTC has also worked for the modernization and expansion of airports. In March this year, a new wing at Kalibo International Airport opened, enabling the airport to handle an additional 800 passengers. A new departure area with ten check-in counters was also opened.
Data from the Department of Tourism showed that tourist arrivals in Central Visayas alone stood at 2.107 million during the first half of 2015, up 6.2 percent from 1.98 million in the comparable period in 2014.