‘NEW, BIG AIRPORT FOR EACH PROVINCE’

Feasibility study on air navigational safety for a new international airport in Dumaguete City has been completed Upgrading, expansion of Cang-alwang airport in Siquijor is ongoing The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) 7 has forecast that government infrastructure will be in its full swing of construction next year.

This, as the agency expects that it will usher economic growth in Central Visayas.

“Cebu’s economy is one of the fastest growing economies, so we need to plan carefully and to provide the kind of infrastructure and support facililties to accommodate this growth so that the private sector will continue to be the engine of economic growth in this part of the country,” Efren Carreon, Neda 7 director, said.

Carreon said civil works have started in the expressway from the City of Naga to Danao City.

“Initial funding is P300 million for 2018 and P300 million for 2019, but we are pushing for a bigger funding for this,” he said.

He said a feasibility study on the air navigational safety for a new international airport in Dumaguete City is already done aside from the Sibulan airport.

“We are closely watching that because that’s the new big airport in our region,” he said.

For Siquijor, Carreon said the expansion and upgrading of the Cang-alwang airport is already ongoing.

“Each province then would have a new big airport because we’re an archipelagic region, so we need systems on the sea and in the air,” he said.

An initial planning for the fourth bridge connecting mainland Cebu and Mactan Island is being done.

“It’s included in the Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded Metro Cebu transport master plan that is already in the pipeline,” he said.

These projects will help decongest the traffic which is a major concern in Metro Cebu, he added.

“We’re looking also to improve the mass transport system here in response to the traffic congestion. But the existing projects now like the expressway and the container port, once completed, will help alleviate the traffic congestion,” he said.

Carreon assured that the government agencies are doing their best to provide the facilities that will help the public and the private sector. /

SUNSTAR FILE FULL SWING. National Economic and Development Authority 7 Director Efren Carreon says construction will proceed in full swing on government infrastructure projects in 2019.