The Transportation Department said Monday the multibillion-peso international airport in Bulacan province proposed by conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is “feasible” and the agency is now reviewing the project.
“It’s with us now. We are coordinating with Neda [National Economic and Development Authority]. We are looking on how it will be classified, whether it’s PPP or so on, in order to give them an original proponent status,” Transportation Undersecretary for aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo said.
Tamayo described the proposed international airport as “feasible.”
“We are rushing it [the process]. We are expediting it based on the direction of [Transportation] Secretary [Arthur] Tugade,” Tamayo said, adding the approval of the proposed new airport would involve other government agencies.
San Miguel offered to build the new airport north of Manila, a revision from its 2014 proposal for a $10-billion airport on a reclaimed part of Manila Bay in the southern part of the metropolis.
The conglomerate wanted to build an airport with at least four runways and covering 2,000 hectares in Bulacan towns near Manila Bay.
Tamayo said building a new international gateway would take a long time, and the government was for the meantime improving Clark International Airport.
“Everything is being studied, but right now it’s still dual airport. In the long term, we are open to a new gateway,” he said.
State-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority is currently bidding out the development of a P12.55-billion new passenger terminal in Clark International Airport in Pampanga province.
The project aims to construct a new passenger terminal building to accommodate 8 million passengers per annum as well as the construction and installation of all required associated facilities – both landside and airside, to support the operations of the new terminal. The construction period is between 2017 and 2020.
All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp., a consortium led by by tycoon Henry Sy and the Tieng family, also offered to build a new international airport in Sangley Point, Cavite.
ARRC plans to reclaim 2,500 hectares at Sangley Point. The company expects to complete the reclamation in 12 months.
The new airport would be designed to have a capacity of 50 million to 100 million passengers which would be completed in five years.