NEGROS NOW OPEN TO WORLD, ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES:
NOLI Silay City – The P5.6 billion New Bacolod Silay Airport that has opened up Negros Island to the rest of the world will bring in endless growth opportunities for Negros Island, Vice President Noli de Castro said yesterday.
De Castro led the inauguration of the new alternate international airport here yesterday afternoon also attended by Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Japanese and Negrense officials.
The 72-year-old Bacolod airport was closed down Thursday evening after the last flight out. “The endless opportunities that this new and modern airport could bring to Silay City and to Negros Island does not mean that Silay’s gain is Bacolod’s lost,” de Castro said.
The world class airport will allow both cities to move on, he said, because “now Bacolod can concentrate on its competitive edge in commerce, business and the service sector.” De Castro said work on the extension of the new airport runway by 500 meters to accommodate larger aircraft from the United States and Europe will begin in the second quarter of this year. In fact with its current 2,000 meter runway it can already accommodate a 300-seater Airbus A-330, Mendoza said. Aircraft of that size from around the world can already land at the Silay airport now, Mendoza said.
De. Castro said Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, has also informed him that work on a 10-kilometer road that will connect the Bacolod circumferential road to the new airport will begin this year.
This will reduce travel time from Bacolod to the new airport to 15 minutes, de Castro said. The new airport was built on a loan by the Philippine government from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation that was represented yesterday by Hiroshio Togo. Also present was Mnister Eiichi Oshima of the Embassy of Japan. He pointed out that Negros Occidental is the fifth biggest domestic airport in terms of passengers in the Philippines, which have increased by 50 percent in the last 10 years.
THE VISAYAN DAILY STAR
January 19, 2008
Pages 1 and 5
NEW NEGROS, ILOILO HUBS ALTERNATE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS, TOO.
The Philippine government is declaring the New Bacolod-Silay and Iloilo airports alternate international airports open to flights from neighboring countries, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza announced yesterday. We are declaring both airports international gateways because they conform to international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, he said.
The declaration will be made through a bulletin to be posted worldwide before the end of this month, allowing international flights from the ASEAN region to land in Silay City, he said. The P5.6 billion new Bacolod-Silay Airport in Barangay Bagtic, Silay, begins domestic flight operations at 5:40 a.m. today and inauguration rites at 3:30 p.m. will be attended by Vice President Noli de Castro. The terminal fee for passengers using the New Bacolod-Silay Airport will be P30 but the amount will be increased after a public hearing, Mendoza said.
The Davao airport terminal fee is already P200, he said. The Bacolod airport that began operations in 1936 closed down after the last flight yesterday. Declaring the New Bacolod-Silay Airport an international gateway will bring progress to Negros Occidental, Mendoza said, noting that the vicinity around the Cebu international airport has become an industrial zone.
The reason why we are opening a lot of international airports is because the Philippines will be the host of the ASEAN transportation ministers meeting for 2008 and in December we are going to sign a multilateral agreement to declare a single sky for the ASEAN countries, he said. “The more international destinations we have the better for the country because we are going to be competitive,” he said.
The old Bacolod airport could not be upgraded to international standards because it does not have the space and it cannot be compliant to ICAO standards, he said. So the new airport in Silay City should be very welcome for Negros occidental, practically all big provinces want new airports, he said.
The Visayan Daily Star
January 18, 2008
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