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In the News
MNTC’s unsolicited offer
seen to fast-track
Clark-NAIA linkup
An unsolicited offer by a major tollway
operator to build an elevated highway
above a rail system can be the right
package to hasten the necessary linkup between
Clark International Airport and Ninoy Aquino
International Airport (NAIA), according to Felicito
Payumo, chairman of the BCDA.
In a speech, Payumo told Rotary Club Pasig
members that Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) had
made the unsolicited proposal for an elevated expressway
connector using the alignment of the Philippine National
Railways (PNR) to link South Luzon tollway with North
Luzon expressway. He described the proposal as “strategic”
because it would also link Clark and NAIA airports and help
decongest vehicular traffic in Metro Manila.
Payumo said that if
the connector project would
be awarded this year, he
was optimistic that it would
be finished during President
Aquino’s term. “Here is one
of the doables now that is
significant enough to be part
of President Aquino’s legacy to
the Filipino people.”
“By itself, the connector
road is a game changer,”
Payumo further said, adding
that the connector would make
travel time between NAIA and
Clark “a mere 70 minutes,” or
two-fifths of the current travel
time. He recalled that Japan
also had a dual airport system
but the linkup between Tokyo’s
Narita and Haneda airports was
through elevated expressway
for about 10 years until the
completion of an express train
for speedier linkup.
Payumo’s speech came on the heels of a broader
debate whether to transfer NAIA to Clark freeport zone in
Pampanga or to operate NAIA and Clark airports under a
two-airport system catering to both short- and long-haul
flights. The debate was prodded by recent widespread
criticisms tagging NAIA as “the world’s worst airport.”
NAIA’s newest tag has prompted the government
to take another look at a major study by Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) choosing Clark airport as an
alternative to NAIA. Among other factors that it deemed
significant in its choice of Clark, JICA said Clark airport sits
on a 2,500-hectare land and has two runways that can
accommodate A380 airbus jets.
But converting Clark as a real alternative to
NAIA, according to Payumo, would depend largely on
the connectors between the two major airports: a highspeed
rail connection that can
make travel time between two
airports faster or not exceeding
45 minutes; and complete NLEX-
Skyway connections. He added
that the development of support
facilities as well as infrastructures
at and around Clark airport to
serve both budget airlines and socalled
legacy carriers would also
play a big factor in determining
Clark airport’s growth.
Still, Payumo said, any
talk about a linkup between
NAIA and Clark would remain
idle talk “unless we solve the
connection problem” between
the two airports. The linkup, he
added, would “decongest the air
traffic problem at NAIA wherein
airline movements (takeoffs and
landings) already exceeded the
scheduling limit of 36 movements
per hour.”
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