San Miguel Corp. is awaiting the government’s decision on the company’s plan to build an international airport in Bulacan province to replace the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, a top executive said.
“I offered to build an airport in Bulacan and if they want it, we will build it but if they don’t like it, it’s okay,” San Miguel president Ramon Ang said.
San Miguel offered to build the new airport in Bulacan, north of Manila, in a revision from its 2014 proposal for a $10-billion airport on reclaimed part of Metro Manila.
The conglomerate wanted to build an airport with at least four runways and covering 2,000 hectares in Bulacan towns near Manila Bay.
Ang earlier offered to build a $10-billion airport on another site in Manila Bay, but this was rejected by the Aquino administration.
Another conglomerate expressed an interest to build an airport in Sangley Point, Cavite, but Ang said the project should undergo public bidding.
All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp., a consortium led by by tycoon Henry Sy and the Tieng family, offered to build a new international airport in Sangley.
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.
The project would also provide efficient and transportation connectivity for private and public vehicles and rail system.
The international airport is a part of the proposed $50-billion Philippine Global Gateway Project. Other components of the project are seaport, economic zone and real estate.
Naia accounts for nearly 90 percent of all domestic passengers in the Philippines and more than 80 percent of all international passengers.
The airport currently has 5,100 scheduled commercial weekly flights or an average of 365 takeoffs and 365 landings per week. Movements are now capped at 40 per hour.
Naia reported that it handled 39.5 million passengers in 2016, including 20.6 million domestic and 18.9 million international passengers.
Aviation think tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation advised the government to abandon a plan to privatize Naia, saying this could result in higher airport fees.
Capa said in a report that while the privatization of the country’s main gateway could be considered, the government should be careful and only proceed with the public private partnership scheme if the new owners would make the appropriate investments without significantly raising the costs for airlines or passengers.
Capa said the PPP proposal was somewhat controversial and had not yet secured airline support because the concession was only for 15 to 20 years–a relatively short length for an airport privatization project.
“However, a longer concession at Naia could impact investor appetite in the new airport project,” Capa said.
