Tomas backs airport transfer to Cordova

HE has no problem with a proposal to transfer the Cebu international airport to Cordova town, only with the  bosses in the Capitol.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said he backs Cordova Mayor Arleigh Sitoy’s proposal to transfer the international airport to their town since the current Mactan location is fraught with tax and land ownership issues.

“I just need Sitoy. As long as I only talk to him and not to the Province,” Osmeña said, “because they (Capitol) say one thing and do another,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Osmeña  still keeps up a  a feud with political rival Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Cordova envisions a  3,200-hectare reclamation project in  the town’s foreshore area as a  joint project by the local government and the province.

The idea of moving the Mactan Cebu International Airport to the coastal town in Mactan Island is a novel suggestion but no studies or budget has been drawn up for it, and expansion plans for the current airport are based on its present  location in Lapu-Lapu City.

But Osmeña said he was willing to  invite investment bankers to fund the airport transfer since this would decongest traffic in Mactan and Cordova is closer to Cebu City.

The former Cebu City mayor said the Cordova reclamation project would be easier to do than  Cebu CIty’s 300-hectare South Road Properties (SRP) which he initiated during his term.

“Having more experience in reclamation projects, I say that it’s very very feasible,” Osmeña said.

Since a transfer is a long term option, Osmeña said he is “sure” some changes will still occur in the Capitol in the 2013 elections.

“I’m very sure by then that it would be different,” he said. Garcia is serving her last term as governor.

Sitoy verbally presented his proposal during the master plan presentation made by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for the airport’s expansion in Waterfront Mactan last Thursday.

The project’s first phase, which requires at least P5 billion with a target project completion in 2015, will include the construction of a new terminal building with one international terminal and additional parking area, a passenger and cargo terminal, and one runway. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya