The Philippine Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) finally sealed a deal with Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA T3) contractor Takenaka Corp, paving the way for commercial operations of the airport by yearend, 10 years after the project was first unveiled.
The memorandum of understanding signed by Transport Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Takenaka officials includes a provision for the delivery of 23 airport systems, including baggage handling and reconciliation, flight information display, building management, local area network, fire alarm and protection, and passenger loading bridges.
Once complete, the 182,500-square meter terminal will be able to service up to 33,000 passengers daily or 6,000 passengers per hour. It would have 34 air bridges and 20 contact gates, allowing simultaneous servicing of 28 planes.
Some NAIA Terminal 1 operations will later be transferred to T3, resulting in passenger traffic decongestion.
Takenaka is among Japan’s so-called big five contractors. The family enterprise has built some of the most important buildings in Japan, such as the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Dome, the Fukuoka Dome, and the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel.
Takenaka was the original contractor commissioned by Philippine International Air Terminals Co to build NAIA 3 in 1998.
Construction was halted in 2002 after allegations of anomalies cropped up.
