ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry P. Treñas requested for the inclusion of the expansion of the Iloilo Airport in Cabatuan, Iloilo in the national government’s list of priority projects.
The airport is already reaching its capacity, and expanding it would not only accommodate the increasing number of passengers but would also spur more job opportunities and support the growth of the city’s economy, explained Treñas in a letter to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Investment Programming Group.
“We need to continue pushing for the development of our international airport because it is now overcrowded. If it is expanded we can accommodate more flights and visitors,” said Treñas, chairman of the Regional Development Council (RDC) Committee on Infrastructure.
Treñas’ request was also referred by NEDA Investment Programming Group undersecretary Joseph J. Capuno to Department of Transportation (DOTr) undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan.
The NEDA Investment Programming Group, as the primary entity in charge of planning and programming, coordinating, and implementing, among others, the promotion, development, and regulation of safe, efficient, and reliable transportation services and systems in the country, including air transport facilities, believes that subject request is under DOTr’s purview.
Capuno, however, said the proposed expansion of the Iloilo Airport project is not in DOTr’s proposed infrastructure projects for inclusion in the Public Investment Program (PIP) 2023-2028 and the Three Year-Rolling Infrastructure Program (TRIP) 2024-2026.
He requested the DOTr to provide Treñas updates on the unsolicited public-private partnership (PPP) proposal for the rehabilitation, operation, maintenance, and expansion of the Iloilo Airport submitted to DOTr and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) during the previous administration.
Earlier, NEDA officer-in-charge Arecio A. Casing Jr. said the proposed expansion of the Iloilo Airport under a PPP scheme is a good move.
“We’ve all known that Cebu province is the entry point for international flights in the Visayas and Mindanao, other than Luzon in Manila [Ninoy Aquino International Airport]. So, it would be good if we had that here in Iloilo,” Casing said in an exclusive interview with Panay News.
He cited Mactan-Cebu International Airport, saying: “It is being run by the private sector, so you’ve seen the type of improvements they were able to introduce. So, you will see the difference between the privatized airport and the one run by the government. I think that’s the incentive that we are perhaps looking for.”
Casing also mentioned the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport, also known as the Caticlan Airport in Aklan, which caters to international flights and recently began having flights to and from Taipei, Taiwan.
If Ilonggos also wish to experience improved airport facilities, it is just fitting to undergo a PPP deal, he added.
“I’ve seen that in the development plan of CAAP. I think not only in Iloilo but in the list of airports as well. Again, we will await the interest of the private sector to do this,” he added.
Last October 2022, Transportation secretary Jaime Bautista announced the Iloilo Airport was set to undergo an upgrade under a PPP scheme and expected the completion of the airport projects in the provinces by 2023 as part of efforts to boost travel and tourism in the country.
Iloilo Airport is situated on 188 hectares of land covering barangays Tabucan, Tiring, Gaub, Duyan-Duyan, and Manguna in Cabatuan.
The airport complex consists of a single runway, various administrative and maintenance buildings, waste-sorting and water-treatment facilities, a power-generating station, a cargo terminal, and a main passenger terminal.
CAAP-Iloilo terminal supervisor Arthur Parreño also said it has been 15 years since the airport opened in 2007, and improvements and expansions are “long overdue.”
The main passenger terminal, designed to accommodate only 400 to 450 passengers, should be expanded, said Parreño.
He added the airport now caters to 20 flights (both departure and arrival) a day, and every flight has about 170 to 200 passengers.
Another airport area that needs expansion is the runway, said Parreño, especially now that three airlines – Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia – resumed their usual number of flights./PN
