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Pangasinan Airport in Alaminos will be completed
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A former top official of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) once assured that the next administration will definitely provide the needed funds for the completion of the Alaminos Airport Development Project here.
That was on September 23, 2009 when DOTC and Alaminos government entered into Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the realization of the said multi-billion project.
Fast forward to 2010, His Excellency President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III said recently that he fully support the construction of the first commercial airport in the province of Pangasinan.
The President was in the province last week to lead the inauguration of a 100-Core Shelter Project in barangay Dacap Sur in Bani, Pangasinan.
Alaminos City Mayor Hernani A. Braganza, Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro and fellow Liberal Party stalwarts, former governor Victor Agbayani and former vice governor Oscar Lambino were on hand in welcoming the Chief Executive.
President Aquino told Pangasinan reporters recently that Alaminos Airport is actually among the priority development projects of his administration.
He said that a domestic airport in Alaminos will be a big boost to the people of the city of Alaminos, especially to Mayor Braganza who conceived said landmark project.
The President even lauded the concurrent secretary general of the League of Cities of the Philippines for bringing his huge project to his city.
President Aquino is still checking whether Alaminos Airport qualifies under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program of the national government.
Nevertheless, it is part of the list of major infrastructure projects that his administration intends to build and complete.
Various agencies including the Department of Tourism have earlier endorsed the inclusion of the Alaminos Airport in the PPP list of projects.
The airport, which construction has commenced last March following its historic groundbreaking, is expected to open for domestic flights by 2012 and for international flights by 2022.
The project has total costs of around P3.9 billion and once fully operational will bolster Pangasinan’s potentials according to the visionary city mayor.
Last January, the DOTC had transferred to the city coffer the P50 M initial funding for the project survey and site acquisition which is the first tranche of the P 137.5 million budget for site acquisition.
It was learned that the P96 million set aside for earth moving and for the construction of a road has also been released.
The airport which will occupy 158.5 hectares of land in the barangays of Sabangan, Pandan and Telbang here will make the province accessible to commercial air traffic of both people and goods.
And it will surely open floodgates of opportunities to Mayor Braganza’s beloved provincemates in the years to come. (CIO)
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