Tacloban Airport on Fire

September 22, 2011

It took the airports own fire truck intended for airplanes to douse the flames that almost gutted Tacloban Airport Terminal early this morning.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Director General Ramon Gutierrez said the fire was caused by grounded electrical wire that broke out at the arrival area of the old Tacloban airport around 3 A.M Thursday.

No one was reported hurt in the incident.

The fire was placed under control after 16 minutes.

The old Terminal building is set to be replace by a new and bigger Terminal slated for construction early next year.

The 200 Million Pesos Terminal Building is funded locally through the General Appropriations fund (GAA) for 2012 and implemented by project proponent Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) headed by Secretary Mar Roxas.

The new passenger terminal  is part of the 1.4 Billion Pesos Tacloban Airport Redevelopment Project, which is being funded yearly by the National Government under the General Appropriations Act to cover airport components such as the Airside Infrastructure Civil Works component, construction of a new passenger terminal and the installation of air navigation equipment.

Components of the project to be implemented include runway improvements (400 million); land acquisition (130 Million); installation of new air navigational facilities (230 million); shore protection (150 million) and terminal complex (400 million).

 

The new terminal building would be located near the office of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) sitting on 4,899.96 square meters portion of the terminal complex.

CAAP Regional Area Manager Merla  Negradas said that present terminal building is to be removed after the completion of the new terminal building to give way for a bigger apron of the airport and to conform to international standards (ICAO) on runway-taxiway separation.