Welcome to Bohol Mr. President!
http://www.boholchronicle.com/2011/jul/31/front1.html
P-Noy slated to arrive on Tuesday
July 31, 2011
President Benigno Aquino III is slated to make his first official visit here on Tuesday to make the Boholanos feel that the province is now considered as "one of the priority concerns of his administration."
The visit of the President is interpreted by several quarters as a public confirmation that top Bohol officials led by Gov. Edgar Chatto are now considered within the administration camp after the governor joined the Liberal Party about a couple of months ago.
Although the itinerary is yet to be finalized today, reliable sources told the Chronicle last night that a 40-man party from Malacanang is slated to arrive here today to lay the ground works for the first presidential visit.
The visit of the President comes as Boholanos are eager to know on whether the much delayed project of a new airport will push through considering the congestion and the technical risk of the existing Tagbilaran City Airport which has a short runway and a congested tarmac and terminal building as well as its parking area.
Earlier last week, Gov. Chatto has a chance to chat with the President after he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The Chronicle learned that Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia already received her invitation for the meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council Meeting at the Bohol Tropics which is presently being charged by the Bohol governor.
Some information which leaked to the Chronicle revealed that it will be a very brief visit of Pres. Aquino in the city. His plane is expected to arrive by mid-morning at the Tagbilaran City Airport. However, the congested tarmac will be considered on the arrival of the President since only two planes can be accommodated at a given time.
Former congressman, now Trinidad Mayor Roberto Cajes, during a separate interview confirmed to the Chronicle that Pres. Aquino might find time to inaugurate the P28 million new Trinidad Town Hall which last release of P17 million was already done during the Aquino administration.
It maybe noted that Aquino during the last presidential election made a landslide victory in the province garnering 272,222 votes as against Lakas candidate Gibo Teodoro with 72,184 votes, Manny Villar, 94,008 votes and former Pres. Joseph Estrada, 48,288 votes.
AIRPORT ON EVEN
NOT IN PNOY SONA
Gov. Chatto allayed fears that the New Bohol Airport will hit another snag just because the President did not mention any update on the project and other top Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the State-of-the Nation Address (SONA).
Chatto said there is even no indication that the plan to transfer Mactan International Airport to Cordova, even with strong backing of Cebu representatives, can divert the focus of national agencies.
The governor returned home last Friday with good news that Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas and Department of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim already assured to fast-track their respective departments’ paper works relative to the New Bohol Airport, including the processing of the barter agreements with the affected landowners at the project site.
He also reported that representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who take charge of the restructuring of the project, are even done with the preliminary report and by September it will be finalized with comments from higher authorities in Japan.
Chatto explained that it doesn’t mean that just because President Benigno Aquino III was mum on the update of the PPP priority projects in his SONA, it is already conclusive that there are hitches.
He pointed out that maybe the President no longer saw the need to cite all the PPP projects individually in the SONA because he already launched 10 of them earlier in a gathering in Cebu.
The governor even said he met the President at the lounge of the Batasan Pambansa Complex right after the SONA.
After that Chatto had a lengthy discussion on the implementation of the New Bohol Airport in a series of meetings with Budget Secretary Butch Abad, Roxas and Lim, all of them expressing firm commitment to have the airport constructed soon.
If the private sector would be delayed, the government intends to go ahead with its take, with P1 billion already available in this year’s budget. The allocation, to cover the runway under phase 1, can be ready for bidding this year.
Moreover, Chatto also learned that DOTC’s present budget will be increased by wide difference next year to make it about P9 billion, in consideration of the several projects to be implemented, including the New Bohol Airport.
Chatto said the allocation for the rest of project’s components will follow, as Abad has mentioned the New Bohol Airport in his recent announcement over ANC that next year there will be an increase in the budget for the PPP.
This year, the PPP got about P12.5 billion, but it will be more than double next year.
“In all the meetings I attended in Manila, from the one held right after the SONA and in the following days, there was no indication that the New Bohol Airport is in danger, because their [heads of national agencies concerned] commitment have been very strong,” Chatto added.
He said Roxas was even very categorical in saying that the New Bohol Airport is among the top projects of the administration.
Roxas and the other cabinet members assured that, barring any hitches, the bidding of the project;’s phase 1 will be done this year.
They are just waiting for the final report of JICA which will determine the timetable of the bidding.
Chatto explained that in the old package of then Panglao-Bohol Airport Development Airport, it was completely a Philippine project which was dependent on the P3-billion allocation from the Manila International Airport Authority.
However, it is now the Civil Aviation Authority of Philippines that oversees airport projects. It is on this reason that JICA needed to restructure the project package and the new administration of Aquino adopted the concept of private sector participation to save government fund.
Among the options that JICA initially proposed is to entrust all navigation and runway development to government, while the terminal will be implemented by the partner from the private sector.
“Once that is out, that will be the framework of the terms of reference, and the framework of the bidding process that will be undertaken,” Chatto said
BIDDING SET
LAST QUARTER
The government will bid to interested private contractors the new Bohol Airport by the last quarter of this year, declares PPP Center director Al Vitangcol III.
“All nine projects lined up for bidding this year would be placed on the auction block by the fourth quarter, mostly in December,” Vitangcol declared.
According to Chatto, the New Bohol Airport feasibility study and the detailed engineering design have already been endorsed and currently being validated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and will probably be ready for bidding before the end of the third quarter.
The governor likewise assured that the government will honor agreements regarding the barter of lots that will be covered by the airport project.
Vitangcol admitted that the entire process — from the completion of the feasibility studies to the formulation of the terms of reference and bid documents to the actual bidding—was “really slow.”
However, considering how things were moving now, he said the PPP Center was still on track to bidding out nine of the 10 projects that the government’s economic team committed to be placed on the auction block this year.
By October, Vitangcol said the PPP Center would likely start inviting bidders for the P6.8-billion New Bohol (Panglao) airport project.
Other projects to be bid out this year are the P8.85-billion LRT Line 2 East Extension, which is on the feasibility study stage; the P83.25-billion LRT Line 1 South Extension, which is on the feasibility study updating and bid documents preparation phase, and the P4.14-billion Puerto Princesa airport development project, which is on the same stage as the LRT Line 1 South Extension project.
http://www.boholchronicle.com/2011/jul/31/front1.html
P-Noy slated to arrive on Tuesday
July 31, 2011
President Benigno Aquino III is slated to make his first official visit here on Tuesday to make the Boholanos feel that the province is now considered as "one of the priority concerns of his administration."
The visit of the President is interpreted by several quarters as a public confirmation that top Bohol officials led by Gov. Edgar Chatto are now considered within the administration camp after the governor joined the Liberal Party about a couple of months ago.
Although the itinerary is yet to be finalized today, reliable sources told the Chronicle last night that a 40-man party from Malacanang is slated to arrive here today to lay the ground works for the first presidential visit.
The visit of the President comes as Boholanos are eager to know on whether the much delayed project of a new airport will push through considering the congestion and the technical risk of the existing Tagbilaran City Airport which has a short runway and a congested tarmac and terminal building as well as its parking area.
Earlier last week, Gov. Chatto has a chance to chat with the President after he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
The Chronicle learned that Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia already received her invitation for the meeting of the Regional Peace and Order Council Meeting at the Bohol Tropics which is presently being charged by the Bohol governor.
Some information which leaked to the Chronicle revealed that it will be a very brief visit of Pres. Aquino in the city. His plane is expected to arrive by mid-morning at the Tagbilaran City Airport. However, the congested tarmac will be considered on the arrival of the President since only two planes can be accommodated at a given time.
Former congressman, now Trinidad Mayor Roberto Cajes, during a separate interview confirmed to the Chronicle that Pres. Aquino might find time to inaugurate the P28 million new Trinidad Town Hall which last release of P17 million was already done during the Aquino administration.
It maybe noted that Aquino during the last presidential election made a landslide victory in the province garnering 272,222 votes as against Lakas candidate Gibo Teodoro with 72,184 votes, Manny Villar, 94,008 votes and former Pres. Joseph Estrada, 48,288 votes.
AIRPORT ON EVEN
NOT IN PNOY SONA
Gov. Chatto allayed fears that the New Bohol Airport will hit another snag just because the President did not mention any update on the project and other top Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the State-of-the Nation Address (SONA).
Chatto said there is even no indication that the plan to transfer Mactan International Airport to Cordova, even with strong backing of Cebu representatives, can divert the focus of national agencies.
The governor returned home last Friday with good news that Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas and Department of Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim already assured to fast-track their respective departments’ paper works relative to the New Bohol Airport, including the processing of the barter agreements with the affected landowners at the project site.
He also reported that representatives of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), who take charge of the restructuring of the project, are even done with the preliminary report and by September it will be finalized with comments from higher authorities in Japan.
Chatto explained that it doesn’t mean that just because President Benigno Aquino III was mum on the update of the PPP priority projects in his SONA, it is already conclusive that there are hitches.
He pointed out that maybe the President no longer saw the need to cite all the PPP projects individually in the SONA because he already launched 10 of them earlier in a gathering in Cebu.
The governor even said he met the President at the lounge of the Batasan Pambansa Complex right after the SONA.
After that Chatto had a lengthy discussion on the implementation of the New Bohol Airport in a series of meetings with Budget Secretary Butch Abad, Roxas and Lim, all of them expressing firm commitment to have the airport constructed soon.
If the private sector would be delayed, the government intends to go ahead with its take, with P1 billion already available in this year’s budget. The allocation, to cover the runway under phase 1, can be ready for bidding this year.
Moreover, Chatto also learned that DOTC’s present budget will be increased by wide difference next year to make it about P9 billion, in consideration of the several projects to be implemented, including the New Bohol Airport.
Chatto said the allocation for the rest of project’s components will follow, as Abad has mentioned the New Bohol Airport in his recent announcement over ANC that next year there will be an increase in the budget for the PPP.
This year, the PPP got about P12.5 billion, but it will be more than double next year.
“In all the meetings I attended in Manila, from the one held right after the SONA and in the following days, there was no indication that the New Bohol Airport is in danger, because their [heads of national agencies concerned] commitment have been very strong,” Chatto added.
He said Roxas was even very categorical in saying that the New Bohol Airport is among the top projects of the administration.
Roxas and the other cabinet members assured that, barring any hitches, the bidding of the project;’s phase 1 will be done this year.
They are just waiting for the final report of JICA which will determine the timetable of the bidding.
Chatto explained that in the old package of then Panglao-Bohol Airport Development Airport, it was completely a Philippine project which was dependent on the P3-billion allocation from the Manila International Airport Authority.
However, it is now the Civil Aviation Authority of Philippines that oversees airport projects. It is on this reason that JICA needed to restructure the project package and the new administration of Aquino adopted the concept of private sector participation to save government fund.
Among the options that JICA initially proposed is to entrust all navigation and runway development to government, while the terminal will be implemented by the partner from the private sector.
“Once that is out, that will be the framework of the terms of reference, and the framework of the bidding process that will be undertaken,” Chatto said
BIDDING SET
LAST QUARTER
The government will bid to interested private contractors the new Bohol Airport by the last quarter of this year, declares PPP Center director Al Vitangcol III.
“All nine projects lined up for bidding this year would be placed on the auction block by the fourth quarter, mostly in December,” Vitangcol declared.
According to Chatto, the New Bohol Airport feasibility study and the detailed engineering design have already been endorsed and currently being validated by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and will probably be ready for bidding before the end of the third quarter.
The governor likewise assured that the government will honor agreements regarding the barter of lots that will be covered by the airport project.
Vitangcol admitted that the entire process — from the completion of the feasibility studies to the formulation of the terms of reference and bid documents to the actual bidding—was “really slow.”
However, considering how things were moving now, he said the PPP Center was still on track to bidding out nine of the 10 projects that the government’s economic team committed to be placed on the auction block this year.
By October, Vitangcol said the PPP Center would likely start inviting bidders for the P6.8-billion New Bohol (Panglao) airport project.
Other projects to be bid out this year are the P8.85-billion LRT Line 2 East Extension, which is on the feasibility study stage; the P83.25-billion LRT Line 1 South Extension, which is on the feasibility study updating and bid documents preparation phase, and the P4.14-billion Puerto Princesa airport development project, which is on the same stage as the LRT Line 1 South Extension project.
