Airports a sensible focus for infra development efforts

IN a report released on Tuesday, the Fitch Group’s BMI Research noted with approval the prospects for airport development in the latter half of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, predicting that the administration’s overall focus on infrastructure development beyond Metro Manila and growing air passenger numbers would encourage respectable growth in the Philippines’ air transport sector. This is one area where the government should seek to prove the predictions correct.

Infrastructure development, at least in terms of transportation infrastructure, should be guided by one simple principle, finding the best means to move people and goods efficiently. Among the various types of transport infrastructure – roads, railroads, seaports, and airports – the Philippines, being a collection of islands, is physically most suited to the latter two. Continuing development of the nation’s maritime transportation infrastructure is also important and should be a key priority, but airports, and the air transportation system as a whole, should be given no less importance and perhaps even a little more.