Thursday, March 16, 2006

Clark readies airport for new radar system

By Rendy Isip - Manila Standard

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga—Civil works for a new $9-million radar system that is to be installed at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) are underway and the new system is expected to be fully operational before the end of this year.

Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) corporate planning manager Darwin Cunanan told Standard Today that civil works for the setting up of the radar system will take at least 18 months.

Cunanan said that all of the equipment for the radar system that was acquired in Italy have been transported to the airport and it is now being prepared for installation.

“The project is currently ongoing, we’re confident the new radar system will be set up before the end of 2006,” Cunanan said, adding that the system will be installed by the Italian firm Selex, formerly known as Alenia Marconi.

Cunanan said that the radar is capable of reaching at least 60 nautical miles and will free DMIA from its dependence on the radar system of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila.

DMIA general manager Beinvenido Manga also said that CIAC and Clark Development Corp. (CDC) are studying the funding of the extention of the passenger terminal which is not enough to accommodate passengers.

Manga, however, said that he could not give estimates of how much the extension would cost and the CIAC and CDC are still studying the project under the master development plan for DMIA.

CIAC president Danilo Augusto Francia had earlier said that CIAC, CDC and the Department of Transportation and Commu-nications, National Economic and Development Authority have been tasked to study the expansion so that the DMIA could be converted into an international gateway by 2015.

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