Flaws found in Manila airport where ceiling fell
Source: Agencies |
October 8, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
STUDIES have found structural flaws in a nine-year-old Manila airport terminal that suffered a partial ceiling collapse in 2006, according to a senior Philippine official.
Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel Roxas said two engineering companies and an engineers' association that examined Ninoy Aquino International Airport's Terminal 3 found flaws of varying degrees of seriousness.
He said one study found only slight defects that can easily be fixed, another said it is more serious and the third believes it is "very serious." Asked what the defects were, he said: "Part of it design, part of it is the execution."
The terminal was largely completed in 2002 but not opened until 2008 because of a legal fight between the government and the terminal consortium led by Germany's Fraport.
A government attempt to open the showcase terminal in 2006 was marred when part of a ceiling collapsed. No one was injured.
Takenaka, a Japanese company subcontracted by the consortium to build the terminal, maintains it is responsible for no defect.
Roxas said the government "has taken every precaution" to ensure passenger safety but the measures are only "stop-gap in nature and our objective is still to fix the structural flaws."
The government will have the terminal subjected to stress tests using computer simulation and other procedures to determine the extent of the defects.
The marble-and-glass terminal was embroiled in controversy from the beginning.
The government has been locked in a legal battle with Philippine International Air Terminals, the German-led consortium that was to operate the terminal for 25 years, after canceling its contract in 2002.
The government took over the facility but its opening was repeatedly delayed as Fraport sued it for expropriation without compensation.
The Philippines has won international arbitration cases in Washington and Singapore.
Transportation and Communication Secretary Manuel Roxas said two engineering companies and an engineers' association that examined Ninoy Aquino International Airport's Terminal 3 found flaws of varying degrees of seriousness.
He said one study found only slight defects that can easily be fixed, another said it is more serious and the third believes it is "very serious." Asked what the defects were, he said: "Part of it design, part of it is the execution."
The terminal was largely completed in 2002 but not opened until 2008 because of a legal fight between the government and the terminal consortium led by Germany's Fraport.
A government attempt to open the showcase terminal in 2006 was marred when part of a ceiling collapsed. No one was injured.
Takenaka, a Japanese company subcontracted by the consortium to build the terminal, maintains it is responsible for no defect.
Roxas said the government "has taken every precaution" to ensure passenger safety but the measures are only "stop-gap in nature and our objective is still to fix the structural flaws."
The government will have the terminal subjected to stress tests using computer simulation and other procedures to determine the extent of the defects.
The marble-and-glass terminal was embroiled in controversy from the beginning.
The government has been locked in a legal battle with Philippine International Air Terminals, the German-led consortium that was to operate the terminal for 25 years, after canceling its contract in 2002.
The government took over the facility but its opening was repeatedly delayed as Fraport sued it for expropriation without compensation.
The Philippines has won international arbitration cases in Washington and Singapore.
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