Apeco to bid out airport traffic tower, passenger terminal

THE Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (Apeco) will bid out the construction of the air traffic control tower and passenger terminal building of its commercial airport by end-July."It took time to complete the technical documents, particularly for the air traffic control tower. Our engineers were having problems, so we had to ask for guidance and assistance from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)," Apeco CEO and President Gil Taway IV told reporters on Thursday.The passenger terminal building will cost P35 million, and the air traffic control tower P25 million.Last year, Apeco announced plans to develop the Casiguran airstrip into a commercial airport to support economic activity in Aurora province.Currently, it is limited to chartered flights through a one-time permit issued by CAAP.Apeco is also seeking funding from the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Philippines under its Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) to support feasibility studies for four priority projects.The PDMF is a revolving fund for the upstream and downstream financing of PPP projects, managed by the PPP Center and institutionalized under the Philippine PPP Code."The projects are the Casiguran seaport, airport, a railway connecting the eastern and western seaboards of Central Luzon, and a high-speed road network," said Apeco business development and marketing OIC division manager Gene Angelo Ferrer.These were identified at Apeco's training session with the PPP Center in May."After reviewing and understanding the entire process, we decided to advance these four projects in our talks with the PPP Center," Ferrer said.On May 21, Taway and PPP Center executive director Undersecretary Rizza Blanco-Latorre signed an agreement to accelerate infrastructure growth and long-term economic transformation in Aurora province.​The partnership will fast-track Apeco's projects.Under the 2026 General Appropriations Act, Apeco received an allocation of P381.54 million, up 49 percent from its P256.02-million budget last year.