PALO, LEYTE – A high-ranking official of the National Economic Development Authority regional office here yesterday reported that the controversial implementation of the P3.1-billion Tacloban City airport rehabilitation continues to gain support from the 12 congressmen from Eastern Visayas.
NEDA assistant regional director Emma Sanopo said in an interview with Leyte Samar Daily Express that this move was expressed in a well-attended Regional Development Council’s executive committee meeting which was held recently at the Department of Transportation and Communication central office in Manila, wherein 80 percent of the congressmen representing the different congressional district in region 8 joined the discussion regarding the delayed implementation of the airport rehabilitation project, which if it would materialize might be the key to a successful tourism industry and economic development of Eastern Visayas.
Sanopo also said that during the RDC executive committee meeting, congressmen who were there committed their full support to come up with a win-win solution to continue the implementation of the said multi-billion peso project in the region.
“Congressmen could also take their part as a lobby group and promote seeking the immediate implementation of the airport rehabilitation project,” Sanopo added.
The Japan Bank International Cooperation (JBIC), which is funding 60 percent of the project, also committed its continued support after the DOTC sent them an official communication regarding the problem hounding the implementation of the Tacloban City airport rehabilitation, in which the implementation of the said project that was temporarily set aside after the national government ran out of fund to shoulder its 40 percent share.
The initial implementation of this project was started more than a year ago, by completing the overlaying of airport’s runway and the arrival of the heavy equipment that would be used during the construction of international standard Tacloban airport. This means that the first phase implementation of the said project was already completed based on the program of work at the DOTC project field office based at San Jose, this city.
Earlier, NEDA Regional Director Junie Go-Soco told media that congressmen from this region were really working hard for the implementation of this project, as they were also inviting investors and trying to improve the tourism industry in their respective congressional districts.
