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News Top Stories GMA arriving Tues. to kick off airport
News Top Stories GMA arriving Tues. to kick off airport
| GMA arriving Tues. to kick off airport |
| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:02 | ||||||
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The Presidential Management Staff (PMS) confirmed the President's attendance in the activity after she declined the May 8 schedule set earlier because of other equally pressing commitments. Ms. Arroyo was supposed to be the guest of honor and speaker during the Bohol-Jiangxi Friendship Day celebration. The day commemorates the signing of a friendly-province relations agreement on May 8, 2006 in Nanchang, the capital city of Jiangxi. Aumentado and then Gov. Huang Zhiquan signed the document. This agreement "sealed" the memorandum of friendly exchange and cooperation between the two provinces that Aumentado and Meng Jian Zhu, then chair of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress on September 6, 2005 at the MetroCentre Hotel in Tagbilaran City. Meng is now the PROC minister of public security. Aumentado and a delegation returned to Nanchang City where, on October 28, 2006, he and Huang signed the framework agreement on further enhancing friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two provinces, this time witnessed by President Arroyo and Meng. He said the framework defines in clear terms the areas of cooperation in tourism including the establishment of a sister-mountain relationship between Bohol's Chocolate Hills and Jiangxi's Mt. Lushan, agriculture, mining, education, culture and sports. At the capsule-laying ceremony, Ms. Arroyo will be assisted by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Aumentado, General Manager Alfonso Cusi of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and Panglao Mayor Benedicto Alcala. Cusi has committed that the P3 billion payables of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) to MIAA will form part of its corporate funds to be spent for the Panglao airport. During the last meeting of the Panglao Island Tourism Estate Inter-Agency Task Force at the Panglao Island Nature Resort (PINR) in Bingag, Dauis, Bohol, DOTC committed to shoulder the balance of P1.2 billion. As the major funder, MIAA sought to be the lead agency in the implementation of the project and its subsequent operation - a request that the President approved - thereby ironing out what was perceived to be a kink before. Most Rev. Leonardo Medroso, bishop of Tagbilaran has been invited to deliver the invocation while Alcala will give the welcome remarks. MIAA Assistant General Manager for Airport Development and Corporate Affairs Tirso Serrano will give the project brief while General Manager Alfonso Cusi and Aumentado will deliver messages. Mendoza will introduce the President who will deliver her keynote speech. A joint press conference will follow. Cabinet meeting Not only Mendoza is expected on Tuesday. As in her April 29 visit, Ms. Arroyo will also hold a Cabinet meeting. But contrary to last month's venue, which was the ferry that brought the Presidential party to Camiguin, the PMS is now finalizing the meeting place, which is gravitating towards the PINR. Preparations indicate that the Cabinet meeting will be in the afternoon, capped with a luau in the evening. Barring changes, the President will rest overnight (RON) in Bohol, and participate in a private diving activity at the Balicasag Island Dive Resort - one of the Top 3 dive sites in the world, Aumentado quoted her as saying. She is slated to leave for Mindanao at lunchtime or in the afternoon. NO FAVORED BIDDER Dismissing speculations of backroom deals to award the P4.2 billion Panglao Bohol International Airport Project to a "preferred contractor", Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Handel Lagunay said local officials have no direct role in the bidding process. The provincial attorney clarified that it is the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) who will handle the bidding. The bidding process will start after the laying of the time capsule by Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday. According to Lagunay, there is already a shortlist of contractors who sent their letters of intent for the airport construction. The said shortlist is with the MIAA and DOTC since these are the lead agencies tasked to do undertake the bidding process, he said. Asked whether the South Korean contractor Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) is among those shortlisted, Lagunay said he has no information on the list of firms interested to bid. However, Lagunay explained that "it is possible that Hanjin is included in the list since even from way back, [the company] has already expressed interest to undertake the project." "It's very possible that Hanjin is one of those that expressed interest to bid for the project", according to Lagunay, as the Korean firm has experience building airports. There have been speculations that Hanjin is among the "preferred bidders" due to its previous and existing contracts here in the province. However, some quarters expressed concern due to Hanjin's track record in the construction of the flawed Malinao irrigation dam and the Tagbilaran City Drainage Improvement Project that has become a septic tank of commercial establishments and households' illegal connections. Hanjin also has a pending labor dispute and settlement of claims with some 400 workers which the company illegally dismissed in 1996. (see related story) The airport project is to be done by phase. Phase 1 will be the construction of a 2.5 kilometer runway This will eventually be extended to 3.4 kilometers during the project's second phase to accommodate bigger aircrafts. According to Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Handel Lagunay, about 90-percent of the total land area needed for the airport is already acquired. The governor also provided P170,000 for affected landowners to start a cooperative, according to Provincial Government Media Affairs head Antonietto Pernia. The affected families will be given priority for job opportunities during the construction of the airport, he said. Houses to be demolished will be provided a relocation site where they could rebuild their houses, Pernia added.
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