SAN Miguel Corp., the Philippines’ most diversified conglomerate, said it is capable of building the planned airport in Bulacan on its own, its top executive said Friday.
San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said at the sidelines of the 51st annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Mandaluyong City the healthy balance sheet of the company would enable it to do the project “alone.”
The National Economic and Development Authority board recently approved the project despite offers from other companies for a partnership to construct the big-ticket project.
“If you look at our balance sheet and cash flow, we can easily do that airport alone. There are many offers for partnership… I’ll let you know,” Ang said.
He said the Neda board’s approval was undergoing evaluation by the Department of Transportation.
Ang declined to answer if the Bulacan airport would be the last airport project that the conglomerate would build. “I think that question is better asked with the government,” he said.
Ang expressed confidence the Bulacan airport would be good for the country and bring in at least 20 million foreign tourists to the Philippines annually.
“So with that, I think it will create millions of jobs for our Filipino countrymen.
The limitation of foreign tourist arrivals to the Philippines is because of congested airports. Now, if we have a good airport, the Philippines will have a good image and will be able to bring in foreign tourists comparable to the regional countries,” Ang said.
He cited that Malaysia attracted around 20 million foreign tourist arrivals yearly and that the figure could be surpassed by the Philippines because of its bigger size and larger population.
“If we bring in 20 million foreign tourists to our country because of this airport, it will create at least two or three jobs per foreign tourist arrival. And that will be very good for our country,” Ang said.
He said the return on investments from big-ticket project was “secondary to us.”
The Neda board earlier approved the P735.6-billion airport along with other infrastructure projects that are part of the Duterte administration’s ambitious P8.4-trillion “ Build, Build, Build” program.
The project involves the construction, operation and maintenance of the Bulacan International Airport with an area of approximately 2,500 hectares in Bulakan, Bulacan province.
The project involves airport development, including passenger terminal building, with airside and landside facilities, and an 8.4-kilometer airport toll road. It can accommodate 100 million passengers a year by its opening year. The unsolicited proposal has a project cost of P735.634 billion.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said in an earlier briefing that while the Neda board approved the airport project, the formal process for the Swiss challenge would not begin until the final concession agreement was confirmed by President Rodrigo Duterte.