ONE month after President Gloria Arroyo unveiled this city airport as a signal of its formal re-opening to the public, the landing strip is still inoperable and city officials, by now, are starting to get impatient.
This is the reason why councilors called on the attention of Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) manager Jose Bodiongan and asked him to attend last Tuesday’s session to shed light on the airport opening’s delay.
It was learned that this city’s airport in Muricay has an area of 1,800 meters long and width of 45 meters plus another 75-meter on both edges towards its perimeter fences, a bit longer than that of the Benigno Aquino Airport in Gango, Ozamiz City.
The airfield here is one of the 15 airports in Mindanao classified as priority infrastructure projects that are calendared for completion before 2010.
During the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo)’s 12th Mindanao Super Region (MSR) inter-agency meeting here last July, Usec. Virgilio Leyretana Sr. told media that the airports of Zamboanga, Dipolog and Pagadian cities, presently undergoing repairs, have a combined funding of P1.28 billion.
Works of the project components of the mentioned airports include the continuation or completion of the asphalt overlay of runways, rehabilitation or construction of terminal and fire station buildings and the procurement of air navigational facilities, among others.
Of the total amount, the Dipolog airport gets the biggest chunk with P478.05 million, followed by Zamboanga City with P428.5 million and Pagadian with P379.46.
The status report paper of the MSR stated that total funding requirements for both Dipolog and Pagadian airports have already been released while that of Zamboanga City has a total of only P127 million or 29.64 percent released.
Bodiongan explains that construction of the city airport is done in four phases. At the moment, works are in the last phase, which includes the construction of a grave extension and the vertical rehabilitation on the terminal and pre-departure area, control tower and administration building.
As to the runway, Bodiongan said the clearing of small rocks and sediments including the removal of small debris and compacting are being rushed.
He added that this type of work is customary to make the surface less slippery though the process is a bit time-consuming but is a must especially that wide bodied aircrafts like Airbuses will land on the runway and that such work will prevent the planes from getting damaged travelling over the surface or from sucking the scattered fragments.
The airport manager told councilors that he has already talked with the mayor on the postponement of the airport’s opening and promised that all works will be finished on end of November so that operations will then start by next month.
As the commercial flights, Cebu Pacific and Zest Air are the two airline companies so far who have signified to service the Pagadian-Cebu-Manila routes while other airline companies are yet to announce theirs.
The airport’s completion will not only complement Zambosur’s much touted tourism destinations but will also serve the urgent need of air travelers for a convenient transport facility for their trip towards premier cities in the North, Gov. Aurora Cerilles once told this paper.
REPORT BY JONG CADION