Newly hired security personnel of the Air Transportation Office are now reporting to the New Bacolod-Silay Airport in preparation for its opening on the third week of this month, ATO Bacolod manager Antonio Alfonso said yesterday.

He said more than 100 job order workers were recruited by ATO for security and janitorial services at the new airport and most of them are now in Silay.

Technical requirements, such as the publication of the new aeronautical information that will inform the world about the new airport in Negros Occidental, have already been started, Alfonso said, adding that everything is ready for the commercial operation of the facility.

He said commercial airline companies that will transfer to the new airport are expected to make their own announcements, although nothing much will change aside, from the new location of the airport.

But while ATO will transfer its office to Silay City , Alfonso said some security personnel will remain at the Bacolod facility to guard the government property.

Equipment turned over by the Department of Transportation and Communication to the ATO such as x-ray machines for passengers and baggage, firetrucks, runway sweeper, dumptruck, and tractor mower will also be transferred to the airport in Silay on the last flight out of the Bacolod airport, he said.

Meanwhile, Silay airport project director Edgar Mangalili of DOTC yesterday said instructions from the office of Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the airport will open on Jan. 19 with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo attending the event.

He said everything is ready at the new airport with the access road at least 64 percent complete.

Possible power supply problem earlier raised with the Central Negros Electric Cooperative has been addressed with the unloading of the CENECO sub-station in Silay to the Talisay substation, Mangalili said.

“What is critical at the moment is the power fluctuation in the area which CENECO hopes to eliminate with the construction of another sub-station in Silay in the first quarter of the year,” he said.*NAB

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