More travelers can now be accommodated at the Port of Dumaguete and Dumaguete Airport in Negros Oriental after the two ports underwent improvement works during the lockdown.
(ACE MORANDANTE/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
No less than President Duterte and Tourism Secretary Arthur P. Tugade led the inauguration of the newly-developed ports on Thursday, March 11.
The Dumaguete (Sibulan) Airport can now accommodate heavier aircraft, increasing the terminal’s passenger capacity from 330 to 450 after going through improvements such as reblocking of the apron, construction of two taxiways, expansion of the existing Passenger Terminal Building (PTB), runway asphalt overlay, and shoulder grade correction.
An expansion of the airport’s Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) administrative building was also implemented.
The airport upgrade will benefit passengers from the province of Negros Oriental as well as neighboring Siquijor island.
“From a previous floor area of 1,152 square meters, the Passenger Terminal Building now has an expanded size of 1,842 square meters,” CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco said, noting that the Dumaguete Airport also became capable of accommodating night-time flights.
The Port of Dumaguete, on the other hand, can now accommodate around 500 passengers with the completion of a two-story port operations building.
“With the project's completion, the need for the proper monitoring of vessel arrivals and departures will be addressed, while providing passengers bound (for) the nearby islands of Siquijor, Cebu, and Bohol with a state-of-the-art passenger terminal building,” Philippine Port Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Santiago said.