TACLOBAN CITY, April 17 (PNA) – The contractor tasked to repave the Daniel Z. Romualdez (DZR) Airport runway has assured the city council here of completing the project by April 30 for as long as the weather will cooperate.
In a meeting of the city council’s committee on public transportation, contractor Edgar Tiu of BM Marketing said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) main office has ordered them to work double time.
DZR airport runway has remaining 360 meters that needs resurfacing, a portion left by the contractor from the more than 600 meters stretch of the runway included in the February 2015 contract signed with Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), CAAP’s mother agency.
Tiu has 120 days to finish the 600 meters remaining part of the runway. The contract started Feb. 3 and will expire on May 30, 2015.
But even with assurance of finishing the work within this month, Tiu said that he couldn’t control some factors that would hamper or would trigger workers to stop such as bad weather.
An hour of rainfall would mean two-day work delays, according to Tiu.
About 30 workers are involved in the runway repair that work 10 to 12 hours daily.
Another constraint is the shortage of asphalt overlay supply.
The ongoing repair started on April 14. It involves removing old asphalt at the runway before putting up a new pavement.
Civil works commence after the last flight of the day and ends shortly before the first flight on the next day.
Heeding orders of the DOTC-CAAP main office, Tiu said that they also work on mid day where there are no aircraft movements for several hours.
For better understanding of the current repair works being done at the runway, Tiu urged councilors to conduct ocular inspection.
When prompted to explain, Tiu said that failure to beat the timetable would result to 15-day extension.
There is no violation of contract, according to him since the agreement will expire on May 30.
City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin asked concern agencies to work with each other for the fast tracking of repair work at the DZR airport.
“Limited operations at the airport will not only affect the city’s economy but the entire region,” Yaokasin said.
He said that even tourism has been greatly affected with this repair and the city is still in the recovery stage from the 2013 disaster.
The ongoing repair has forced the government to close more than 600 meters of the 1,238 meters runway. Hence, only propeller-driven aircraft are allowed to land and takeoff at the DZR airport. (PNA)
RMA/ROEL T. AMAZONA
