The Department of Transportation is still waiting for a more feasible proposal from the Cavite provincial government on the P500-billion Sangley International Airport project, including a possible joint venture with the private sector.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the Cavite LGU could even team up with private sector proponents such as the Solar Group to speed up the construction of an international gateway in Sangley Point, Cavite.
“It is possible. There is nothing illegal about that [joint venture],” Tugade said when asked about the possible partnership between the provincial government of Cavite and the Solar Group for the Sangley airport project.
Tugade said even the national government was teaming up with the private sector for various infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership program.
The P500-billion Sangley International Airport proposal of the Cavite provincial government was still pending at the National Economic and Development Authority because of alleged incomplete documents, funding source issue and unclear implementing arrangement.
“They are still fixing its financial packages. I promise, I don’t want [it to take] forever because if it’s forever, the other projects will suffer,” Tugade said in an earlier interview.
Tugade’s deadline to Cavite provincial government lapsed in July.
Sangley airport is an important alternative to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the transfer of domestic flights from Naia to Sangley Air Base to ease airport congestion in Metro Manila.
Aside from the Cavite provincial government, Solar Group’s All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp. submitted a similar unsolicited proposal to develop Sangly into an international airport in 2016.
AARC’s unsolicited proposal to build the Philippine Sangley International Airport was estimated to cost $12 billion.
A crucial portion of the ARRC development plan is the rehabilitation of the Danilo Atienza Air Base and its transformation into a general aviation airport that can serve as an emergency alternative to Naia during the project development phase.
ARRC proposed a concession period of 50 years for the Sangley International Airport.
Under the proposal, the project will start with the reclamation of about 2,500 hectares of land north of the Sangley peninsula which will be used for the development of the airport infrastructure and a commercial establishment to complement the project.
Sangley airport would be designed with two parallel runways and sufficient airside and terminal capacity to accommodate future demand for the domestic and the international traffic, not only for the Philippines but also for Southeast Asia.