Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is asking the Korean government for a $13.29-million loan to improve the navigation system at the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental province.
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Mar Roxas said the fund, which will come in the form of a loan from the Economic Cooperation Development Fund of the Republic of Korea, will be coursed through the Export-Import Bank of Korea.
Among the items needed to upgrade the soon to be the (Cagayan de Oro) Laguindingan International Airport's navigation system are the following:
- Instrument landing system
- Doppler radar
- Communications system
- Automated weather observation system
- Electrical works for the air navigation system
- Aeronautical ground lighting system.
Roxas said that the entire Laguindigan International airport development project is almost finished.
He said that about 90 percent of its civil works have been completed by the South Korea-based Yooshin Engineering Corp., the SCHEMA Konsult, Inc., and the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Ltd.
He said that economic activity in the region is projected to soar to as the airport is envisioned to be a major trunkline air facility.
Cagayan de Oro City Shopping Mall
"This will be a major trading and tourism hub. Its operation would have a multiplier effect in the region, and this would mean more jobs for the people," he noted.
The Laguindingan airport is being eyed to become the main airport of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities (Cagayan-Iligan Corigidor) in the northern Mindanao, as a counterpart of the Davao international airport in Southern Mindanao.
The government is expecting the airport's operation to boost Mindanao's potential as a national food basket being an exporter of the country's major agricultural exports such as banana and coconut.