PASSENGERS at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport will have to suffer longer amid the heat inside as the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) will install two new chillers by first quarter of next year, yet.
Agnes Udang, Caap-Davao City area manager said, the program of work for the purchase of the chillers was already signed by director general Jim Sydiogco last week of October.
The upgrade will cost P43 million and bidding will start next week. They target to award the bid before the year ends.
Meanwhile, procurement of the 10 additional units of package-type air conditioner worth P1.2 million is ongoing.
“For this year, we already installed 27 units of package-type air conditioner. For the 10 more units, we expect it to be installed by yearend,” Udang said.
She said with the two chillers and 10 more air conditioner units to be installed before the year ends or early next year, passengers of the Davao airport will feel more comfortable.
Passenger have been made to suffer for months now because of the insufficient airconditioning in the airport.
Udang said they are requesting for more aircon units on top of the 10 units expected to arrive.
She, however, brushed off complaints about the airport having no water saying their water is supplied by the Davao City Water District and a deep well.
Davao airport upgrading
The Davao airport is pipelined for major upgrading under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project and is included in the P108.19 billion bundled maintenance project for five regional airports.
The bundled maintenance project for the five regional airports includes the P40.57 billion development of the Davao international airport.
The Davao Airport operations, maintenance and development project, currently undergoing procurement procedures, aims to provide additional facilities and other improvements designed to enhance passenger safety, security, access, passenger and cargo movement efficiency, and operational efficiency under a defined concession period.
But, the DOTC has delayed the bid submissions and its latest bid bulletin did not set any specific deadline.
At present, a total of six firms were identified by the PPP Center as project prospects to pre-qualify and bid.
These are the GMR-Megawide, Metro Pacific-JG Summit Consortium, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, San Miguel Corporation, Philippine Skylanders Inc., and Union Equity.
The DIA project will include the expansion of the passenger terminal building from 65,000 to 125,000 square meters (sqm.), and the cargo terminal building from 13,000 to 27,000 sqm. Construction of a full parallel taxiway will also be included under the project.
The winning bidder will develop, operate and maintain the airport with a cooperation period of 30 years.
At present, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is currently reviewing the project.
