CEZA to build new $80 million airport in Cagayan Ecozone

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) has announced that it is currently planning the build of a new $80 million airport in a bid to attract more investors and encourage the realisation and establishment of the ‘Crypto Valley of Asia’ concept.

The airport is set to be constructed inside of the economic zone and represent an investment between $60 and $80 million, with a masterplan and feasibility study currently being undertaken by an American company in collaboration with local partners.

The Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of CEZA, Secretary Raul Lambino, said: “The construction of a new airport is an important facility in the establishment and realisation of the so-called Crypto Valley of Asia concept that we have embarked upon. Investors have said that they need to get to the ecozone as fast as possible.”

Crypto Valley of Asia is a joint initiative between CEZA and private developer Northern Star Gaming and Resorts Inc. that was launched in 2017. The aim of the concept is to provide a stable and safe region for blockchain developers and crypto-currency exchange operators.

Currently, the closest airport to CEZA is the Cagayan North International Airport, situated 80km away. Constructing a new airport has been found to be faster and more practical to implement rather than building a connecting expressway to the existing airport.

Lambino continued: “Unless we construct an expressway, we would not be able to address the concern of investors who would want to come to the ecozone as quickly as possible. Right-of-way acquisition will take more than five years and thus it is more practical and more doable to construct a new airport with less cost and less time than to construct a new expressway that will connect Lal-lo to the ecozone.”