Analysis, analysis, paralysis seems to be de facto situation that the strategic development of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, or as some sycophants would prefer a different name after a USA Air Force major or any other “hero”, has found itself locked into in perpetual limbo.
The clear vision/mission has been neglected. The highest and best use of the resource is not focused on.
“They seek him here. They seek him everywhere. Is he heaven? Is in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel!”
I personally know of at least 5 master development plans for DMIA during the almost 6 years that I have been there. There is the master plan by an American consultancy firm which I found already there.
And there are the plans made and submitted by a Korean study and research group subsidized by KOICA, a Singapore based firm, Sum Cheong, with its own donated presentation, a consortium of Malaysian firms and a financing and construction framework by the Chinese.
I also remember arrangements for both financing and construction by a Kuwait firm which got tangled in some contractual terms disagreements. And there were the various difficulties of the zigzagging of the processes for the then new Private-Public Sector Partnership model which was sought to streamline the implementation of much needed public infrastructure and other projects.
Alas, politics, legalities, bureaucracy and various personal agenda became stumbling blocks.
Apart from the foreign firms, there were local big shots like R-II Builders, Dick Penson and his consortia, and even San Miguel and MV Pangilinan who manifested their interests at various stages. The end result over a period of almost two years of travelling and negotiations? One big fat ZERO!
It remains, however, to the credit of CIAC management at that time that in spite of the lack of financial support by the national government and the administrative and management misfocus and misdirection which governed the airport there were some basic improvements.
CIAC has since then never received any financial support except from CDC for the time when it was part of its then mother company. CIAC had to rely on its ownresources and revenue generation.
It must be remembered that an airport is a vital transportation and capital intensive infrastructure with an extended gestation and payback period. It is a social and economic investment.
CIAC had to borrow to buy its radar equipment and to expand and improve its terminal capacity and facilities.
The radar was around $11 million or almost half a billion pesos. The expansion of the terminal and the completed addition of a second floor with two passenger tubes had a borrowed cost of around PhP 350 million.
And there are the runway lights, equipment against bird strikes and the now needed reequipping of the runway, all costing hundreds of million pesos. One master plan, I remember, estimated the total cost for DMIA to be completed as the prime international gateway is around $1.2 billion.
However, the situation is not just an issue of money. Any strategic vision must be crafted and executed through the correct organizational setup, structure, manning and culture.
CIAC has been like a pingpong ball or a hot potato which nobody knew what to do with. Like an unwanted orphan, it has been placed as a group included in the Clark Development Corporation structure, then separated as a subsidiary corporation under CDC, then merged and soon demerged again with CDC, then as a separate corporation under BCDA and now as one of the myriad of entities under the DOTC.
These organizational travails resulted, it may be expected, in changing members of the Board, management, culture, policies and practices.
Two steps forward and one step backward may be an optimistic evaluation.
CIAC is now under DOTC, which itself has a new secretary. Secretary Abaya’s recent interviews places himself on top of the fence, in fact straddling several fences. He points out to several options regarding the directions that the development of the prime international airport of the country.
Develop Clark and relegate NAIA to a secondary airport; Develop Clark, upgrade NAIA and have two prime gateways; Look for a site nearer Metro Manila like Bulacan and Cavite and develop an alternative prime gateway are the 3 main options being studied.
And he cited a time frame of up to 2025. As Anthony Taberna who was interviewing him commented, “Buhay pa ba tayo noon?” We hope so.
If Hongkong’s Chep Lap Kok, Bangkok’ s Suvarnabum or Singapore’s Changi processed their own airport developments the way we are going about it, we still be taking off and landing in downtown Hongkong, for one.
Even among the airports all over the world, these three airports are consistently ranked as among the top airports of the world, even numbers 1 or 2. This is because they had the foresight and the will to think outside the box.
Why can we not learn? Waiting, analysing and keeping the status quo is already a decision made whether this is done consciously or by inadvertence or negligence. The dysfunctional effects will be the same.
