P5-B Bicol International Airport progress rate at 72%

The progress rate of building the P5-bIllion Bicol International Airport (BIA), the completion of which had been reset from 2016 to 2020, is now at 72.2 per cent.

The BIA project started in 1996 (pre-feasibility study) and the government issued the Notice to Proceed in July, 2009.

It was supposed to have been finished in 2016.

However, construction work for the runway, taxiway, apron and fences were mostly uncompleted in 2012 and the project budget was reverted to the national treasury.

It was only when the Duterte Administration came in 2016 that the construction of Landside Facilities (Project 2A) began.

Runway Extension and the construction of the Passenger Terminal Building (Project 2B) started in 2017.

As of last week, January 13, 2021, Package 2A is 88.2 per cent complete.

Construction work of Package 2A is being handled by the Sunwest Construction and Development Corp.

It covers the airport’s landside facilities, such as the Administration Building, Air Traffic Control Building, Crash Fire Rescue Building, and the Maintenance Building.

On the other hand, Package 2B of the airport project is now 49.5 percent complete.

E.M. Cuerpo construction company handles Package 2B, which covers the construction of the passenger terminal building (PTB), taxiway, runway extension, and other site development works.

Once completed, the BIA, which features the Mayon Volcano as backdrop, will serve a total of 2 million airline passengers every year.

The new international airport is also projected to boost air traffic in the region amid the existing COVID-19 pandemic.

Article and Photo originally posted by Manila Bulletin last January 20, 2021 12:29pm and written by Emmie V. Abadilla.