Manila to build terminal

Manila to build terminal

MANILA (AFP): A firm controlled by Philippines' wealthiest ethnic Chinese businessmen is to start building a 400-million- dollar terminal at Manila international airport by next February, a company official said yesterday.

Antonio Henson, president of Asia's Emerging Dragon Corp. (AEDC), said the company would also simultaneously start rehabilitating the terminal at the former U.S. Clark Air Base north of Manila.

The project is estimated to cost 100 million pesos (US$3.8 million).

He said the Transportation Department was scheduled to endorse the project yesterday for approval by President Fidel Ramos.

The new terminal at Ninoy Aquino International Airport here is set for completion by late 1997 or early 1998 under a build- operate and transfer scheme.

Henson said the terminal would have a capacity of 10 million passengers a year, up from the 6.2 million passengers the present terminal can accommodate.

Manila plans to upgrade Clark, former home of the U.S. 13th Air Force, into an international airport by 1998 to complement an industrial zone rising in the area. The Clark rehabilitation is to take 10 months.