STA. BARBARA—Mayor Reynaldo Velasco says his planned airport in his town will be pursued under the build-operate-transfer scheme to make sure that there will be no financial burden on the government.

In an interview with The PUNCH, Velasco said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been given him the go signal to undertake a feasibility study and he has already initiated talks with potential investors.

The mayor said among those he has contacted is a group of investors who had already invested P4.8 billion in the country.

Arroyo announced last year that funding will be allocated in the 2008 national budget for the construction of an airport in Alaminos City, home of the Hundred Islands National Park, but nothing was mentioned about an airport in Sta. Barbara.

A feasibility study, funded by the government, is expected to be soon underway for the Alaminos airport.

“Hindi ko sinusulot ang Alaminos airport project because I have the imprimatur of the President. May the best town win,” Velasco said.

Velasco said he is leaving it to the Department of Transportation and Communication and the Air Transportation Office as well as the National Economic and Development Authority and other concerned agencies to make the final endorsement as to the best location for an international airport in the province.

The proposed airport site in this first class municipality is a 1,000-hectare lot in Barangay Leet which is part of an agrarian reform community.

“Everything equal, we will not be a burden to the government. We will work out the funding,” he said.

Velasco said his town is centrally located, being near the pilgrimage town of Manaoag, the cities of Urdaneta, Dagupan and San Carlos, as well as the neighboring cities of San Fernando in La Union and Baguio.

“We want to be the gateway to the world. And my only hope to make it a reality is through this airport,” he said.

“Libre naman ang mangarap di ba (To dream is free, right?),” he said. #

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