CLARK FREEPORT – The “least cost” solution to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) would be to develop another airport which has existing facilities and vast expanse of land but yet close to Manila in terms of travel time.
This, according to former Finance Secretary and Chairman of the Philippine Veterans Bank, Dr. Roberto de Ocampo. De Ocampo said the Philippine government could make the “Dulles- Reagan” airports in the US as models for the development of the Clark International Airport (CIA) here, which he described as second to none, to decongest the growing air traffic at the NAIA.
The two airports that he wanted airline executives and governments officials to look into are the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia and the Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia.
Both airports are supervised by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. In his speech at the recent Clark aviation confab here, De Ocampo said NAIA will not be able to keep pace with the projected increase in air traffic and the long term solution to Manila’s airport problems require the development of other international airports.
He said the least cost solution would be Clark. “Developing the airport would help spur the economic development of the residential areas between Clark and Manila,” he said. De Ocampo emphasized the geographical advantage of Clark.
He said that the development of the airport and related infrastructures would produce powerful synergies and would solve the country’s long air traffic needs. He said that this would also transform the country by improving the economically depressed areas in Metro Manila.
He recalled how the present dilemma in the aviation sector was anticipated during his term as Secretary of the Department of Finance. “Twenty years ago, then President Fidel Ramos asked me to coordinate a plan to cope with rapidly growing air traffic in Metro Manila.
After studying the problem, we proposed a twoprong solution: One is to satisfy the immediate needs – we recommended the extension of NAIA. Second is to satisfy the medium and long term needs after 1998 – we recommended the development of Clark Air Base,” he said.
He explained to President Ramos how he witnessed the industrial and residential communities of Arlington flourish when Reagan and Dulles were being expanded. “We suggested a modular terminal for Clark. You just keep building one more wing after another. Nothing new, I’ve seen this done in Washington DC when I lived there from 1978- 1987.
I was the one who introduced the phrase – ‘Let’s do it like Dulles and Reagan’ because we couldn’t let go of NAIA and we were building Clark one modular terminal at a time,” De Ocampo said. He added that he remains hopeful that the original vision of the CIA will be realized into a modern “aerotropolis” in Northern Luzon.
An aerotropolis is a new urban form of placing airports in the center with cities growing around them, connecting workers, suppliers, executives, and goods to the global marketplace. “When I was studying the basics of urban planning, it included the idea of building magnets outside of the central metropolis in order to spread the urban community rationally outwards.
For me, the magnet that we are looking at here is the Clark International Airport. And the other magnet which is not too far from here is Subic,” he said. Meanwhile, De Ocampo also highlighted the importance of Subic as it is bigger than Singapore. He said that Subic is a major port facility that could be used for dry dock servicing.
“This airport (CIA) facility is second to none and with the two combined, it gives you a fantastic export processing zone that could put us on the map,” he said. De Ocampo said the proposed modular terminals will allow the airport to continuously expand as traffic builds up.
“Build it and they will come. The key to it is a magnet because the magnet will bring the business. The business will bring the jobs. The jobs are the rationale for creating the residential communities and the transport between here, Metro Manila, and the rest of the world will be facilitated,” he noted.
“The ASEAN Economic Cooperation is right around the corner and it would be embarrassing if it still has the reputation of being one of the world’s worst international airports. That is not the best way to join a regionally integrated bloc with no competitive advantage,” he added.
