By Emmie V. Avadilla
The over P600-million renovation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 is in full swing and will be completed by first quarter of 2020, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal announced.
“We are ‘business as usual,’ despite ongoing works,” he added. “We started last September, 2018 and despite the challenges, we shall proceed as planned. We hope to deliver on our promise to finish everything by March next year.”
The project involves architectural face lifting with the replacement of damaged floor finishes, and the restoration and chemical cleaning of stained floor finishes in the arrival and departure passenger movement areas.
They will replace damaged ceilings and repair 32 sets of skylight roofing. Seismic and expansion joints in general areas, baggage claim area and elevated roadway are to be replaced as well.
MIAA will likewise upgrade the terminal’s walls, columns, beams and soffit finishes at the arrival and departure passenger movement areas, aerobridge areas and elevated roadway.
Also, they will replace the glass doors at the pre-departure gates and fixed bridge gates, and cleaning and polishing of metal frames, metal louvers and claddings.
The departure check-in hall and the arrival baggage area will be expanded.
The work also includes the construction of a drop wall, installation of structural framing, installation of new glass wall panels and partitions, glass doors and metal ceiling panels.
To complement the expansion of these two areas, additional air-conditioning system, power, lightings, fire protection, electronics and communications systems will be installed.
The construction of a power room is necessary to host additional power supply requirements for these additional installations.
The exterior of the building will have its share of fixing as exterior ledges, walls, beams, soffit, pathways and pocket gardens undergo waterproofing works.
For the safety of wellwishers, they will install, additional tubular bars at the bottom of existing railings.
They are likewise improving the flight information display system, and putting in a new public address system.
Prior to the rehabilitation project, MIAA has added a total of 9 comfort rooms at the passenger movement areas in the year 2018.
“Given the spatial constraints that we have in Terminal 2 vis-a-vis the growing passenger traffic, we assure air travelers that we are doing all we can to be of better service to them. We appeal to all airport users to bear with us at this time,” Monreal concluded.