Speaker Arroyo bats for Clark international airport as alternative to NAIA

By Ben Rosario

Former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday batted anew for the development of Clark International Airport in Pampanga as an alternative air hub to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Jansen Romero/ MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Arroyo, who represents the second district of Pampanga, reiterated this proposal during a visit the former US airbase in her home province.

“Actually I have been for it and it’s not because of any specific knee-jerk reaction to any event” Arroyo said as she invited members of the media to accompany her in inspecting the on-going construction in the CIA.

The CIA expansion plan involves the construction of a second terminal that will increase the current 2.5 million passenger capacity to 10 to 12 million annually.

The new terminal is expected to be operational by June 2020.

During a press briefing, CIA president Alex Cauguiran said the 210-hectare airport is indeed the best airport that can reduce the current passenger burden of NAIA.

The Clark airport can accommodate up to three runways and 80 million passengers annually, Cauguiran said.

The airport executive said that aside from decongesting NAIA, the CIA is also part of a proposed development plan for North and Central Luzon because the new terminal will complement other infrastructure projects in the area.

Moves to speed up Clark’s transformation into an alternative to NAIA has become vital following the ditching of a Xiamen Airlines aircraft that resulted in air traffic operations for several days.

However, oppositors insisted that Clark is far from being an ideal new international airport because of its distance to Metro Manila. Vehicular traffic usually experienced even on the Northern Luzon Expressway has also been raised as an issue.