Naia transfer to Clark eyed

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II

The Aquino administration is eyeing the relocation of the country’s premier international airport from Pasay City to Clark, Pampanga, some 90 kilometers up north.

But Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II on Wednesday said the plan—patterned after Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport—was contingent on the success of the NorthRail project and privatization of the existing Ninoy Aquino International Airport property.

“The transfer to Clark would not be successful without a fast train,” he told reporters in Filipino, shortly after breezing through the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing at the Senate.

Roxas said the government was also hoping to raise around $2.5 billion with the privatization of the 440-hectare Naia property. He said the amount would be used to finance the relocation to Clark.

In a visit to China last month, President Benigno Aquino III convinced Chinese officials to “reconfigure” the project, whose original $503-million price tag rose to around $2 billion under the previous administration.

“We’re now working on the renegotiation, reconfiguration of the NorthRail train link because that will be the basis of the transfer of the airport (to Clark),” Roxas said. “The transfer would not be successful if travel time (from Clark to Manila) would take two hours.”

The new airport project would be among the priorities of Roxas, who hurdled the CA hearing with relative ease.