Environment groups Monday urged incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to review the controversial projects of the Arroyo administration that will trigger environmental disasters particularly the expansion of Caticlan airport in Aklan.

Roger Birosel, secretary general of Earthsavers Movement, said the soon-to-be environment and natural resources secretary should evaluate and examine the P2.5-billion Caticlan airport rehabilitation to international airport as it will degrade the healthy forest and destroy coral and beach zone of world-renowned beach of Boracay.

Birosel informed Aquino and newly elected senators the project should be stopped immediately because the plan of its proponent — the Caticlan International Airport Development Corporation (CIADC) to level the hill beside the airport will also result in land and water deterioration, erosion and sedimentation.

Earlier, the 3,000 strong-member of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI) asked Aklan provincial officials not to proceed with the rush ground breaking activity on the upgrading of the Caticlan airport because of the negative environmental impact.

The BFI also supported the move of the Aklan provincial government to limit the development of the airport for domestic operations only and not as international airfield as proposed by the Department of Transportation and Communication.

Birosel said the Aquino administration should investigate DoTC officials who insisted last year that their present priority is to chop off a portion of the hill so that the entire length of the runway can be fully used by the airlines landing and taking off in Caticlan.

To become an international airport, CIADC announced that the runway would be extended from its present 950 meters eventually to 3,500 meters, to accommodate bigger aircraft. The proposed airport is expected to be operational by 2013.

But Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez has expressed concern about what he said was the lack of consultations on its being converted into an international airport facility, a priority project of the Arroyo administration under the build-operate-transfer scheme project.

He said the CIADC did not comply with the three major components of the July 2006 issued environment clearance certificates (ECC) — which include proper consultation with provincial officials, to form a multi-partite monitor team and the social responsibilities with stakeholders.

Dr. Ric Javelosa, of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), also revealed that CIADC’s plan to remove the hill will lead to “micro-climatic change” resulting in the disappearance of all of the white beaches of both Boracay and Caticlan within 20 years.

Javelosa explained that the Caticlan airport, in its present location, is not fit for upgrading due to high potentiality to local tsunami and highly subject to variable ground shaking.

According to Javelosa, Boracay Island has excellent micro-climatic conditions, which are responsible for the formation and replenishment of its world-renowned powdery white sand.

A land form specialist added that levelling the hill will trigger local hydro-met changes on this environment that would eventually lead to longshore erosion of beaches along Boracay and drying of Lupo-lupo lake near the existing airport.