Rumor: New Airport to Siaton"government

A realtor told me the "government" decided to build the new airport in Siaton, not Bacong!
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Did that realtor have any land for sale in Siaton

 

That is the way it is in the Philippines. Always someone has a rumor but is it the truth? Our helper knows everyone in Talay and she has so many rumors that it is hard to keep up with what happened yesterday and 90% are not true. I believe things as or when they happen.

 

I first heard about the airport proposal in 2014 that it was to be built in Combado, Bacong. In 2015 it appeared in the Negros Chronicle as a news headline that said: "New international airport at Bacong has been officially approved". Late last year I went to the Bacong town planning office and spoke to the city engineer and as far as they were concerned it was being surveyed and going ahead. They even gave me a photocopy of the proposed site and location of the runway (on a scrap piece of A4 paper printed out of Google maps, don't ask me to upload it). There was a small concern from one independent surveyor about the wind being too strong and that the runway could not run parallel to the mountains. I don't know if they may have changed the runway direction since. In the last few months new rumors have emerged that say it is going to be built in Siaton and even Bayawan but they are just wishful thinking. I have also been told by a few brokers that many landowners in Combado, Bacong have been approached by government officials for the buy back of their land. So, in summary, it is still going ahead with building to commence in 2018 in Combado, Bacong. However, we will never be sure until heavy equipment starts to clear land there. If it does go ahead you can expect to see Bacong become the next Dumaguete and house and land prices will increase for sure. The widening of the southern national highway is being done for a reason, and it's a much-needed improvement.

 

. . while they sell off the land from the perfectly good Sibulan airport and put a handsome profit in the local government's pockets as well as profiting some rich company like SM mall who will scoop up the land and make even more money off the local handbag and shoe shoppers.

 

Will the proposed monorail also to be build to the new airport? I fear that the airport transfer rip off will become much bigger with the airport at the new location.

 

Agreed. It is normal for a growing city to move it's airport further out from the main commercial area but then a new commercial/residential area will spring up around the airport so this is not really a long term solution, just a pain for all concerned (except those who are pocketing a few million pesos in the deal).

China/Hong Kong seem to have a long term solution. If I recall correctly they built an island to put the airport on. If they need a larger airport they simply need to build the island bigger. Hey wait a minute, Sibulan could do that too. Nah, nobody makes any pocket money doing that.