PHL’s newest, eco-airport opens Tuesday, Nov. 27 in Panglao

Despite the delays that hounded its construction, the country’s newest and first eco-airport is opening for business on Tuesday, November 27, three years ahead of schedule.

The P8.9-billion Bohol Panglao Airport is 99 percent complete and ready to open for business after its inauguration, according to the Department of Transportation.

Dubbed as the “Green Gateway to the World,” the airport is equipped with solar technology to run its hot water supply system, which prevents eliminates 18 tons of yearly carbon dioxide emissions.

As part of its ecosystem, the Bohol-Panglao International Airport’s landscape includes 1,700 trees, thousands shrubs, and 11 hectares of sod or ground surface with grass.

President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to lead the airport’s opening.

After breaking ground in 2015, the airport’s construction was hounded by 48 percent of slippage due to delays.

“When we took over in July 2016, construction of the airport has a slippage of around 50 percent and the completion rate was only at 6.48 percent. Given the slippage, the previous administration pegged its completion to 2021,” DOTr Director Goddess Hope Libiran told GMA News Online last week. —With Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News