Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. plans to submit at least 10 unsolicited proposals to the Duterte administration to improve infrastructure across the country.
“We have 10 unsolicited proposals. We are thinking of many projects that will help the country,” San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said.
Ang last month said San Miguel planned to submit an unsolicited proposal for a $2-billion flood control project with a power generation component.
The unsolicited project would help address flooding in Metro Manila during the rainy season.
The project involves the construction of a spillway that will facilitate the release of water from Laguna de Bay to Manila de Bay.
Ang said the project would be built at no cost to the government. Ang said in exchange, he would ask the government to give San Miguel the right to use waste materials from Laguna de Bay for its planned power generation facility.
San Miguel, through unit South Luzon Tollway Corp., submitted an unsolicited proposal with the Transport Department in February for the construction of the 29-kilometer Tanauan-Tagaytay Expressway.
It also submitted submitted an unsolicited proposal for a new international airport in Bulacan, a revision from an earlier 2014 proposal to build a $10-billion airport in Sangley Point, Cavite.
The conglomerate wanted to build an airport with at least four runways and covering 2,000 hectares in Bulacan towns near Manila Bay.
The proposed new international gateway will have an initial capacity of 100 million passengers per year.
The Duterte administration earlier expressed openness to unsolicited proposals, but recently expressed preference for ‘hybrid’ projects that would be supported by official development assistance loans.
Ang expressed concern over the government’s move to skip public-private partnership projects in favor of ODA loans to finance infrastructure, saying this could result in higher state debt.
Ang said the strategy could increase government borrowings and subsequently affect the good fiscal standing of the Philippines.
