JUNE S. BLANCO | September 27, 2009

MALACAÑANG has set a luncheon meeting on October 6 for stakeholders of the Panglao Bohol International Airport to address a cost overrun of around 76 percent.

Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado who shepherded the project from conception until the approval of its initial outlay has been following it up after the Philippines Japan Airport Consultants, Inc. (Phil.JAC, Inc.) submitted a revised detailed engineering design that increased the budget.

Calling from his hotel in Manila to his weekly program The Governor Reports aired live simultaneously over two radio stations in Tagbilaran City , the governor announced the Malacañang schedule given by Secretary Gabriel Claudio in answer to his letter to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo dated September 23.

The letter was a follow up to his aide memoire for President Arroyo dated September 1 wherein he asked her to convene a meeting among the airport stakeholders to solve the funding deficiency.

The National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC) Technical Board has approved a P4.2 billion outlay for the airport.

Aumentado said because of the runway reorientation by 32 degrees in order to avoid “plowing into the Alona Beach resort row”, the airport now hit “many crevices and depressed areas that would need engineering intervention.”

The engineering, administrative and land preparation aspects as well as price escalation raised the cost to around P7.5 billion, the governor said, culling the amount from Phil.JAC Inc.;s revised engineering design.

In seeking the President’s help, he said only the President “can provide the necessary solution to the problem at hand, aggravated by the realignment of the allocation for airports under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap).by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Aumentado has a ready second option though – construct the terminal building and allied facilities under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Aside from the governor, expected at the brainstorming in Malacañang on October 6 are DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza; Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi; DBM Secretary Rolando Andaya; Philippine Tourism Authority General Manager Mark Lapid; Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano;

Caap Director General Ruben Ciron; and Philippine Ports Authority GM Oscar Sevilla who are supposed to be involved in the funding of the project under Section 6 of President Arroyo’s Memorandum Order 210; NEDA ICC Technical Board Chair Rolando Tungpalan and Rep. Edgar Chatto.

In justifying the increase, the governor gave a comparative analysis between the airports in Panglao and Laguindingan in Misamis Oriental.

He said as proposed, the former has a 2.5-kilometer runway compared to the latter’s 2.1 kms. only. Panglao Airport’s terminal building will have a 1.5-hectare floor area while Laguindingan’s that is financed by Official Development Assistance (ODA) has 7,000 square meters only but costs more than the former that is locally funded.

Time is running out for the project, the governor said. “We must have to start the construction even of the runway and allied facilities this year, otherwise, the project could be derailed and it could be the biggest issue in Bohol against the administration candidates,” he admitted