The provincial government will turn over next week its partial counterpart of P30 million for the Kabankalan airport project, Kabankalan City Mayor Pedro Zayco said yesterday.

He said the airport will not be as modern-looking as that in Silay City and its total project cost ranges from P200-P400 million. The bulk of the funding will come from the national government, he said. "It will be a feeder airport and will not be able to accommodate massive aircrafts," Zayco said.

The feasibility study made by the Department of Transportation and Communication is complete and workers from the city government have started clearing the area, he said.

The project site covers 96 hectares of land and three kilometers will be assigned for the runway, he added.

The mayor said only two kilometers will be actually developed for the runway and the remaining one kilometer will be set aside for expansion.

Since the site belongs to different landowners, Zayco said land acquisition will take time. So far, the city government was able to close 50 percent deals with landowners, offering P220,000 per hectare.

Meanwhile, aside from the airport project, Mayor Zayco said Kabankalan is constructing a P15-million slaughterhouse with double-A standard.

The new slaughterhouse he said will replace the old one which is "a little bit primitive in design." As this will be his last term as mayor, Zayco said he hopes to complete the road construction in the upper barangays of Kabankalan before 2010.*NAB

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