AUMENTADO
|
|
The
Cabinet National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA) Board Tuesday approved in its 2007 priority plan
two major infrastructure projects for Bohol.
Gov.
Erico Aumentado who, as president of the 1.7-million
strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines
(ULAP) sits in the Board said these are the Panglao
Bohol International Airport Development Project (PBIADP)
and the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project
Phase 3 (BCRIP 3).
|
He
said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given the marching
orders to start the airport project immediately. She wants
it finished in time for her birthday on April 5 -before her
term ends in 2010.
One
of the snags of the project so far is the relatively slow
procurement of the lots for the runway vis-à-vis the
President's deadline.
|
|
|
The
drag, as reported by Provincial Legal Officer Handel
Lagunay to him, is caused either by resistance of the
owners to sell, or non-location of the owners, especially
those who are abroad.
In
these cases, Aumentado said, the provincial government
has no recourse but to initiate expropriation proceedings.
As a policy though, his standing orders are to use expropriation
only as a last resort.
He
will convene the Panglao Island Tourism Estate Inter-Agency
Task Force (PITE-IA-TF) tomorrow at the boardroom of
the Manila International Airport Authority in Pasay
City to troubleshoot and provide solutions for such
snags.
|
Funding
is not too much of a problem, he said, because Transportation
and Communications Sec. Leandro Mendoza has already committed
to President Arroyo the availability of funds from his department
for the purpose.
The
project will be in two packages - one for the runway and allied
facilities and the other for the terminal building and allied
facilities. Because two contractors will undertake the project
simultaneously, Aumentado is confident that they can beat
President Arroyo's birthday-deadline.
On
the other hand, BCRIP 3 anticipates the heavy traffic when
the airport will already be operational.
Package
1 comprises of the Panglao circumferential and central spur
roads, the two causeways and the two bridges connecting the
island to Bohol mainland, the Tagbilaran Diversion Road and
the Baclayon Bypass Road.
Package
2 consists of the road around the Anda Peninsula - traversing
the coast of Guindulman-Anda-Cogtong-Candijay-Mabini and on
to Ubay town.
The
feasibility study of the 142-kilometer road has already been
completed pro bono by the Pacific Consultants International
when Dr. Junichiro Motoyama was still the country representative.
The
hitch so far in the project is the conversion of the provincial
road into a national road for it to qualify for national funding
and foreign borrowing. As such, Aumentado is calling on Bohol's
three congressmen to lobby for the conversion.
The
Panglao roads do not have hitches where conversion is concerned
- the President has signed into law the bill to the effect
during her visit here June 5 last year to inaugurate the partially
completed Package 1 of BCRIP 2 in Lila town.
|
