4 groups pre-qualified for Bicol airport contract

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) has pre-qualified 4 groups for consulting and engineering services for the Bicol International Airport project.

According to Transportation Undersecretary Rene Limcaoco the groups that qualified for the P120.4-million contract include:

• Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.
• Filipinas Dravo Corp. and Key Engineers Co. and Proconsult Inc. 
• Schema Konsult Inc. and Pertconsult, International, DCCD Engineering Corp., and Philipp’s Technical Consulants Corp.
• TCGI Engineers, Urban Integrated Consultants Inc., and Engineering & Development Corp. of the Philippines

The proposed P963.2-million airport project aims to solve the many limitations of the existing Bicol airport in Legazpi where a total of 198 flights were cancelled and 104 flights were delayed last year.

The initial procurement for the Bicol airport includes airside development, covering the continuation of runway strip construction, concrete paving of runways, construction of taxiway, rigid pavement, and other peripheral works.

A separate bidding will be held for the construction of the passenger terminal building and other land components.

The airport faces a number of operation problems due to the region’s climate and geographic location.

The mountainous landscape surrounding the Legazpi airport produces thick fog that often obscures the runway while the existence of houses and hills around the airport also makes it costly to widen the runway strip.

Installation of an Instrument Landing System (ILS) is not a viable option as the existing 150-meter width of the runway strip is far from the International Civil Aviation Organization-prescribed width of 300 meters for ILS.

The refurbishment of this airport will accommodate the region’s rising tourism numbers. Popular destinations such as Mt. Mayon and Donsol posted a 17% increase in the number of visitors in 2012. – Rappler.com