San Miguel Corp. said it expects to generate more jobs and revive 12,000 hectares of Bulacan coastline with the implementation of the P754-billion New Manila International Airport project in Bulacan province in 2019.
San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang bared plans to protect and revive 12,000 hectares of Bulacan coastline, following the government’s approval of the proposed NMIA project in Bulakan town.
“We thank President Rodrigo Duterte and his economic managers for bringing us another step closer to realizing this dream. Hopefully, once we complete all the government processes, we can begin actual work on constructing this world-class international gateway, capable of serving our nation for many generations,” Ang said.
“This is a major investment for us, and a game-changer for our country. That is why it’s going to be a sustainable development,” he said.
The airport, which will be built on a 2,500-hectare coastal property, will be part of an envisioned township that features a residential zone, government center, and a seaport and industrial zone.
“It will have many sustainable features that our countrymen will also appreciate and enjoy,” Ang said.
Ang said the biggest sustainability feature would involve protecting and reviving 12,000 hectares of coastal fishing areas around the planned airport to ensure environmental sustainability within and beyond the facility and to revive Bulacan’s aquaculture industry.
“Fishing in Bulacan has slowly been dying the last few decades because of pollution from households and industries,” Ang said.
“Our goal is to clean up the coast and make Bulacan a seafood capital. After all, the airport is there to help support the local fishing industry,” he said.
Among the measures the company plans to undertake are dredging coastal areas and other bodies of water and clearing them of years worth of garbage. The company said it would also work with local government to stop factories from dumping toxic wastes into the water.
Apart from protecting coastal areas, Ang said that generating employment and boosting local economies would be another key benefit of the project.
He said that once the project was finally approved for implementation, they would immediately hire 100,000 local workers from Bulacan and neighboring provinces such as Bataan and Pampanga.
“That’s just the beginning. This is a massive project and over the next five years, we estimate that we will generate millions of direct and indirect jobs, to build and operate NMIA,” Ang said.
“While we’re still going through a long process, hopefully, in 2019, we can hit the ground running on actual construction,” he said.