COTABATO CITY — The Islamic prayer room in the Cotabato Airport in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte is being rehabilitated for Muslim travelers to have a place for worship rites while waiting for their flights, officials reported on Wednesday.

Ranking officials of the Bangsamoro Airport Authority (BAA) and Bangsamoro Transportation and Communications Minister Paisalin P. Tago told reporters that they are also improving the comfort rooms in the airport.

The Cotabato Airport is only about eight kilometers south of Cotabato City, where the Bangsamoro regional capitol is located.

“This is part of an effort to ensure the convenience of plane passengers while they are at the pre-departure area of the Cotabato Airport,” Mr. Tago said.

BAA employees said government accounting procedures had caused a slight delay in the procurement of supplies for the project, but did not hamper its implementation.

Mr. Tago said the improvement of the Cotabato Airport prayer room and the restroom in the facility is a joint initiative of the BAA, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MoTC-BARMM), and BARMM Chief Minister Abdulrauf A. Macacua.

The project is being supported by the team of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) assigned to the Cotabato Airport, according to BAA officials.

Functions and powers of CAAP are not devolved to the BARMM government, but the agency and the MoTC-BARMM are coordinating cohesively in overseeing the operation of the Cotabato Airport. — John Felix M. Unson

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