SILAY CITY – The P5.6 billion New Bacolod Silay Airport that has opened up Negros Island to the rest of the world will bring in endless growth opportunities for Negros Island , Vice President Noli de Castro said yesterday.

De Castro led the inauguration of the new alternate international airport here yesterday afternoon also attended by Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, and Japanese and Negrense officials.

The 72-year-old Bacolod airport was closed down Thursday evening after the last flight out.

“The endless opportunities that this new and modern airport could bring to Silay City and to Negros Island does not mean that Silay's gain is Bacolod 's lost,” de Castro said.

The world class airport will allow both cities to move on, he said, because “now Bacolod can concentrate on its competitive edge in commerce, business and the service sector.”

“Being a highly urbanized city Bacolod has a great potential to develop central business districts and commercial mix-use areas,” he said.

The site of the Bacolod City airport given its location and developments in its immediate surroundings can be transformed into a business district, the vice president said.

This is the same tack Iloilo City took when its old airport was closed down to give way to a new one in Cabatuan town, he pointed out.

Megaworld has purchased the old Iloilo airport site for development into residential and commercial areas, he said.

“When one door closes another opens, but only if one uses this saying in a practical and prudent way,” de Castro said.

The new airport in Silay City will bring economic development not only to Negros Island but the rest of Central Visayas , he said.

NEW ROAD

De Castro said work on the extension of the new airport runway by 500 meters to accommodate larger aircraft from the United States and Europe will begin in the second quarter of this year.

In fact with its current 2,000 meter runway it can already accommodate a 300-seater Airbus A-330, Mendoza said.

Aircraft of that size from around the world can already land at the Silay airport now, Mendoza said.

De Castro said Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, has also informed him that work on a 10-kilometer road that will connect the Bacolod circumferential road to the new airport will begin this year.

This will reduce travel time from Bacolod to the new airport to 15 minutes, de Castro said.

‘GIVE CHANGE A CHANCE'

Acting Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco appealed to all to give the new airport the full support that it needs so that it can operate at its maximum potential.

The operations of the new airport will directly benefit Negros Occidental as it would encourage more tourists and investors to the province, he said.

Zayco said he echoes the appeal of the airport officials to give change a chance. “This is a change, no doubt for the better,” he said.

A NEW ‘TOWN'

Silay Mayor Jose Montelibano said with the new airport the world finally comes to within reach of Negros .

It will also change the landscape of the vicinity around the airport from sugar farms to industrial economic zones. We will see technology-based industries that will create jobs for thousands of Negrenses, he said.

A new town or center of business and development for Silay City will be built around the new airport since the old historical structures in the city proper cannot be demolished, Montelibano said.

Congressmen present at the inauguration rites were Nergos Occidental Representatives Julio Ledesma IV (1 st District), Alfredo Marañon III (2 nd District) Jose Carlos Lacson (3 rd District), and Jeffrey Ferrer (4 th District), Puentevella ( Bacolod ) and Mikey Arroyo (Pampanga, 2 nd District).

BEST LIVELIHOOD

The new airport is the best livelihood project for the third district and the province of Negros Occdental , Lacson said.

Puentevella, Marañon III and Ferrer also all said the new airport would be a boost the economic growth of Negros Occidental.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela, former Negros Occidental governor, said “After all the sentimentalism is done and finished I hope people will realize that a new airport of international standards will ultimately be beneficial to Negros Occidental, Bacolod City and Western Visayas .”

Coscolluela said he understands some people feel it is inconvenient to have to go all the way to Silay to get to the airport but many of us who travel to Manila are used to going to the airport there three hours ahead of our flights.

“It is a matter making adjustments, let's think about the long term. This will be beneficial to all of us in the long term, this opens up the door for international flights, which would never ever have happened if we retained the Bacolod airport only,” he said.

The new airport was built on a loan by the Philippine government from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation that was represented yesterday by Hiroshio Togo . Also present was Minister Eiichi Oshima of the Embassy of Japan.

Oshima said with the new airport in Silay, gives Negros Occidental a new basis for future growth.

He pointed out that Negros Occidental is the fifth biggest domestic airport in terms of passengers in the Philippines , which have increased by 50 percent in the last 10 years.

The province needed a bigger and more efficient airport to meet its growing demand, and the new one in Silay will boost economic activity and quality of life for Negrenses, Oshima said.

Meanwhile, an SM City Bacolod airport shuttle located at its south transport terminal departs for the new airport at 4 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. with a fee of P100 per passenger.*CPG

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