An Airport Disposal Committee will decide on how to utilize the Bacolod airport site once the New Bacolod (Silay) Airport Development Project in Brgy. Bagtic is completed in 2007.

Assistant Secretary Ricardo Tan of the Department of Transportation of Communication, who is a committee member, said the body has yet to finalize on what to do with the 40-hectare property.

He said that 50 percent of the area belongs to the Philippine Airlines.

In the past, there were proposals to convert the site into a light industrial park and its coastline, into a commercial port and to make the area a commercial center.

Tan said that as it is, the Bacolod airport, which has a 1.832- kilometer runway and almost 1,000-meter terminal building, can no longer be developed into a modern air travel facility. It cannot anymore accommodate future air traffic demand, he said.

Tan oversees the construction of the P4.37-billion airport of international standards in Silay City expected to be operational by the second quarter of next year.

The new airport, which has a total area of 187.02 hectares, is being constructed by Japanese contractor Takenaka Itochu Joint Venture.

Currently being built is the 6,180-square meter terminal building, the two-kilometer runway, and the DOTC's Project Management Office and consultant's office.*NLG

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