"Manila 'airport a disaster waiting to happen' "

Monday, April 2, 2007

'Airport a disaster waiting to happen' 
Philippines - The Manila Standard Today


The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal-3 may further delay its
opening after engineering consultants hired by the government to assess the
facility's condition, found serious defects that will expose it to great
risks, including possible collapse, a lawyer said. 

Jose Bernas, one of the initiators of the anti-dummy law charges against
officials of Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. and its foreign
partner Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Worldwide, said the findings of Ove
Arup and Partners -an independent professional engineering consultant-were
submitted to the government last week. 

He said the firm found out that the facility's "seismic provisions are
either inadequate or missing, exposing earthquake risk, and the strength of
concrete is below standard." 

Citing portion of the report, copy of which obtained by Standard Today,
Bernas said "70 cored concrete specimens yielded compressive strength lower
than specified design. Of these, 43 and 23 yielded values lower than 85 and
75 percent, respectively. Twelve of the cored samples yielded concrete
strength below 25 mpa (mega pascals). The specified strength is 40 mpa." 

About 30 percent of post-tensioned flat panels were found to have design
deficiencies. The combined areas of these deficiency floor panel represent
about 15 percent of the total floor area of the terminal, he added. 

"If an earthquake strikes, the lives of estimated 10,000 passengers who are
at the terminal during the operation, will be at high risk. This is a
disaster waiting to happen." 

The report cited non-structural walls, which showed cracks and no drawing
details that may collapse in earthquake. 

Architectural defects, including the omission of tunnel that would hamper
the transit of passengers to domestic routes interconnecting the facility to
terminals 1 and 2, were also noted. 

"Unaided walking distances that do not meet bid documents exceed maximum
length. More moving escalators needed to meet standards," the document
stressed. 

The retail and concession areas also exceeded bid requirement but "poor
mix," particularly where 87 percent of F and B at fourth level; about 41
percent of the concessionaires located beyond security area that may not
pass the International and Federal Aviation standards, Bernas said. 

Apart from these structural defects, the engineering firm also found the
toilets of the terminal to be undersized that may not be able to accommodate
the 1 person per sqm during peak hours. 

The baggage handling specified in the bid is 8,000 bags per hour, but actual
computation showed that the facility can only handle 3,500 to 4,000 bags per
hour. 

According to Bernas, given the serious defects, the government should cancel
the expropriation proceedings plan to take over the operation of the
facility and have other parties come in to correct the defects for the
safety of the passengers.

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