NEWSFLASH

MISAMIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PLAN SHELVED

Cagayan de Oro City, June 28, 2000 - The national government plans to build the Laguindingan international airport in Misamis Oriental has been adversely affected by the Asian financial crisis.

Augusto B. Santos, NEDA deputy director general for regional operations, said the project has been put on hold because the source of ODA financing, which is the South Korean government, has been affected by the economic crisis.

The Laguindingan airport is a flagship project of the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor (CIC) special development project that covers the two key North Mindanao cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, five coastal towns of Lanao del Norte and the 14 towns of Misamis Oriental’s first congressional district.

Located some 35 kms. from Cagayan de Oro and 46 kms. from the present Cagayan de Oro airport at Bgy. Lumbia, the project has been on the drawing boards since 1991 but has been stymied by land acquisition and financing problems.

Although the government has already signed a US$25-million soft loan agreement with the South Korean government through its Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), the country has had trouble raising its US$17-million counterpart for land acquisition for the 300 hectares estimated to be eventually needed by the airport complex.

“So that project, for all intents and purposes, is put on hold by the national government, pending a recommitment of financing from the South Korean government,” Santos said.

Bickering between the local governments of Misamis Oriental and Laguindingan, as well as the perceived high selling price demanded by some landowners, has further set back land acquisition.

Other issues raised by critics against the project has been its east-west runway orientation (compared to the usual north-south) and the presence of the Alubijid fault line nearby.

The Air Transportation Office Area IX (ATO-IX) has been lukewarm to the project, claiming Cagayan de Oro’s Lumbia airport could still accommodate the increasing passenger and cargo traffic in the CIC.

The 1991 CIC Airport Feasibility Study conducted by Louis Berger International said terrain constraints especially on the western approach to Lumbia airport precluded further expansion to handle operations of wide-body aircraft and 24-hour, all-weather international flight service, including night flights.

The 1998 crash of Cebu Pacific’s Flight 387 has been attributed to one such constraint, the Balatukan mountain range, which has been responsible for at least five other air crashes in recent years.

However, this issue appears to have been addressed by the commissioning of an Instrument Landing System (ILS) which has given Lumbia airport all-weather capability, besides the ability to land night flights in emergencies.

Rep. Constantino Jaraula (PaDayon Pilipino-LAMP, Cagayan de Oro) has wangled P20 million from President Estrada’s presidential pork barrel for the widening and extension of Lumbia’s existing 1,380-meter runway to serve the interim increase in air traffic while the Laguindingan airport is under construction.

Proponents of the Laguindingan airport contend that the extensive residential and real estate developments along the runway’s approach path has made further expansion of the Lumbia airport prohibitively expensive and dangerous to residents.

Although its relatively high elevation resulted in frequent flight cancellations during inclement weather in the past, the commissioning of its ILS has mitigated this.

Lumbia airport has also been criticized for its inadequate crash, fire and rescue (CFR) facilities and passenger terminal that are both scaled for BAC-111 size aircraft phased out by PAL (then the country’s only airline) over eight years ago.

Lumbia Airport is the region’s trunkline airport and serves not only Northern but Central Mindanao and the Caraga regions as well. It has the highest passenger and cargo traffic among trunkline airports in Mindanao.

Although its number of flights handled declined 4.54 percent in 1999 from 1998, passenger traffic grew by 10.92 percent to 487,425 and cargo throughput eight percent to 10,043 metric tons.

PAL, Air Philippines, and Cebu Pacific field a total of 16 flights on the Cagayan de Oro-Manila route daily, while Asian Spirit and Cebu Pacific compete on the Cagayan de Oro-Cebu route.

The latter also serves the Cagayan de Oro-Davao route thrice weekly.