MANILA, July 15 (PNA) — The Bicol Region will eventually get its own international airport that promises to spur and accelerate the region’s economic development. Despite its vast natural resources including mineral deposits, geothermal power and tourism potentials, Bicol has remained among the poorest regions of the country today. The new Bicol International Airport will be developed on a 140-hectare prime land straddling areas of Daraga and Camalig towns. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOT) has recently transferred to the Albay Provincial Government P85 million to pay for the property.

The new airport site is deemed safe from the risks and threats entailed when the majestic Mayon Volcano erupts. Over the last two decades, Mayon, whose perfect cone and spectacular eruptions are both tourist attractions, has regularly erupted once every three to five years.

Albay receives P85 million for land acquisition of proposed international airport from DOTC Sec. Leandro Mendoza (5th from left), looking on are DOTC officials and representatives from the province of Albay among them Daraga Mayor Cicero Triunfante and Camalig Mayor Irwin Baldo and Albay Provincial Board Member Neil Montallana.

DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza recently turned over the P85 million fund for the new airport land purchase to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda. The turnover was witnessed by other DOTC and Albay officials including Daraga Mayor Cicero Triunfante, Camalig Mayor Irwin Baldo, and officials of the five barangays on the actual site of the proposed airport.

Mendoza said he expects work on the Bicol International Airport to start shortly since, aside from the property needed, its other requirements have all been already satisfied. The new airport, he added, should be finished within 30 months or two and a half years.

Salceda, who conceived and worked hard for the new Bicol International Airport project, said the facility will answer the need for a modern airport in Southern Luzon, which should cater to more business activities in the area and conveniently link Bicol to the rest of the country and the world.

Salceda conceptualized the Bicol International Airport idea four years ago when he was chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations. As incumbent Albay governor, he now also chairs the Bicol Regional Development Council (RDC) which has unanimously advocated the construction of the proposed airport.

Bicol International Airport Terminal Perspective

The Bicol International Airport, when realized, will “catapult the tourism potentials of Albay, serve as anchor for modern business platforms and as a fulcrum for spatial integration of Albay and neighboring Sorsogon province into one common economic market,” Salceda noted.

The site for the project acquired by the Albay Provincial Government at a low but fair price of P28 per square meter, the governor said, was accomplished through proper consultations with the communities involved, and without the participation of schemers. The transactions, he added, also employed no high-handed government expropriations actions.

The Bicol International Airport easily qualifies as one of the biggest and most ambitious government projects in the Bicol Region to date, with prospects of even greater returns on investment that is certain to spur the region’s economy and thrust its tourism industry to the international stage.
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Source: Philippine News Agency
Related News:

M.A. Loterte, Funds released to speed up land acquisition for Bicol Airport, Philippine Information Agency, accessed on July 18, 2009.