DOTr not opposed to Cavite’s Sangley airport development plan
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it is not objecting to the proposal of the Cavite provincial government to develop Sangley Point as an international airport for P552.018 billion.
The agency clarified that it has merely instructed the Cavite government to refine its draft memorandum of agreement (MOA) to address various concerns such as its financing and technical capability to implement the project.
“First, the DOTr would like to clarify that it does not have any objection on the proposal of the Provincial Government of Cavite (PGC) to develop the Sangley Airport. The Memorandum dated 15 June 2018, which was cited in several news reports, merely involved a legal review of the proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DOTr, Civil Aviation Authority of the Phils. (CAAP), and the PGC,” DOTr said in a statement on Monday.
“The recommendations were essentially to refine the provisions of the MOA, such as defining the description or scope of the project, identifying the source of funds or financing scheme, and even demonstrating the technical capability of PGC. Nowhere did it say that the SPIA Project was illegal or unsuitable,” it added.
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The DOTr issued the statement after reports circulated that its legal department, in a memorandum, recommended that the agency should not sign an agreement with the Cavite government on the proposed development of the airport.
Under the proposal, the Cavite provincial government will reclaim around 1,500 hectares of land to construct an airport terminal which can accommodate 75 million passengers annually in Sangley.
The DOTr also said the memorandum did not decide on the project itself, but rather on the documentation that would have paved the way for a possible collaboration between the agencies concerned.
“The SPIA Project vis-a-vis the project documentation is clearly distinct, separate and independent from each other,” the DOTr noted. /ee
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