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The Zamboanga City government purchased 20 out of 44 parcels of land appraised by the Land Bank for the new Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) project
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Mayor John Dalipe signed the deeds of sale for the initial20 lots on September 16. A total of 44 parcels of land to be used for the ZIA project has been appraised by the Land Bank of the Philippines
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The new airport will occupy 175 hectares of land straddling barangays Mercedes, Talabaan, Zambowood, about 17 kilometers away from the city proper
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The P13.9 billion airport will have a capacity of 8 million passengers a year
The Zamboanga City government bought 20 out of 44 parcels of land appraised by the Land Bank for the new Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) project.
City Mayor John Dalipe signed the deeds of sale for the 20 parcels located in in Barangay Mercedes on September 16. No price for the acquisition was mentioned in a news release on the city government’s website.
Subject for acquisition are 44 lots, the appraisal of which has already been completed by the Land Bank of the Philippines. The price of 10 lots amounting to P152 million is pending negotiation.
The new ZIA covers a total of 175 hectares straddling barangays Mercedes, Talabaan, Zambowood, about 17 kilometers away from the city proper.
The airport project will cost the government around P13.9 billion. ZIA is expected to be a world-class infrastructure with state-of-the-art facilities featuring a terminal building, six jet bridges, a control tower, taxiways and aprons, and a 3,440-meter runway to accommodate heavier aircraft. Installation of lighting and security equipment is also part of the plan.
Once completed, the new airport is expected to accommodate eight million passengers a year.
Of the P200 million initial funding, only P180 million was downloaded to the city government during the previous administration for the land acquisition. The remaining P20 million will only be released once the P180 million has been fully liquidated.
The current ZIA, meanwhile, is Mindanao’s third-busiest airport. In September 2021, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines formally inaugurated the newly improved ZIA.
The airport now has an expanded passenger terminal building that can accommodate 750 passengers at any given time, compared with its previous passenger capacity of 500.
For the second phase of the airport development, DOTr had said earlier that several projects are underway, such as the repair and asphalt overlay of the runway, and the grading of the runway strip for a safer and smoother aircraft landing.
