Eco-friendly airport to rise in Bohol

AN eco-friendly airport will soon rise in Bohol, which is now a world-class tourism destination.

According to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the construction of the P7-billion Bohol Airport would start in June after the ceremonial signing of the  New Bohol airport  between the DOTC and Japanese joint venture Mitsubishi Corporation and Chiyoda Corporation was held Wednesday.

“Tourists in Bohol continue to grow each year that passes. Unfortunately, the current airport may not be able to accommodate the increase over time. This gives us the need to cater to the increasing number of tourists and this means modernizing and expanding the airport with a design that is of international standards,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said in a statement.

Abaya said the New Bohol Airport would replace the current Tagbilaran Airport, which is the 11th busiest airport in the Philippines.

The transport official said Tagbilaran airport catered to around 789,800 passengers in 2013 despite its size of only 850 square meters.

“The first greenfield airport under the Aquino administration is 10 times bigger than the Tagbilaran Airport, with a floor area of around 8,800 square meters, boosting the annual passenger capacity to 1.7 million passengers,” Abaya said.

He said the new airport is expected to be completed within 30 months or in 2017 to early 2018.

According to him, the airport would have environmentally friendly and energy saving features such as the installation of LED lights.

He said only the pre-departure area would have an air conditioner, which would be operated by a solar-powered energy while the rest of the areas would be open. AC