GenSan International Airport gets P121 million for its modernization

In her Independence Day speech at Koronadal City last Friday, June 12, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bared her administration’s moves to modernize and improve the General Santos International Airport to the tune of P121 million.

Citing the need to push South Central Mindanao’s tourism destinations, the president remarked that part of her plans to improve on the economy of the country is to invest more on infrastructure, and this is where GenSan International Airport‘s rehab comes in.

She further explained that the Department of Transportation and Communications has budgeted P40 million, including the P10 million last year for the rehab of the terminal building facilities of the GenSan International Airport and the construction of its perimeter fence.

For 2010, DOTC officials added P81 million for the provision and rehabilitation of air navigation and air traffic control facilities, improvement of the control tower and fire station buildings, and the construction of an administrative building for the airport which has been classified as a Secondary International Airport.

The GenSan International Airport which was constructed mostly from US Aid Funds amounting to$50 million formally opened on July 6, 1996, making it officially 13 years old next month.

For years, it has been rumored to be used by the United States military to increase their presence in the ASEAN region since it boasts of the 3rd longest runway and the biggest land area in the Philippines today.