"Few, if any, could match these terms."
"Few, if any, could match these terms."
On Wednesday, July 31, 2019, the Department of Transportation announced that no company had attempted to match, under a six-month Swiss challenge, the bid of San Miguel Corp., through its San Miguel Holdings Corp. to build a P735-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulakan town, Bulacan province in four to six years.
“No one bought our bid documents, no one submitted comparative proposals to challenge the original proponent, which is San Miguel. This means we will award the project to San Miguel,” Giovanni Lopez, chair of the DOTr bids and awards committee of the DOTr, told reporters.
A notice to proceed by September enables SMC then to break ground just before Christmas 2019.
Under President Ramon S. Ang who envisioned the airport that will remake San Miguel as the Philippines’ premier company, management had been raring to build the airport since six years ago, giving it considerable head start over rivals.
Few, if any, could match the terms of the NMIA—cost of $14 billion, four runways with provision for another two, capacity to handle 100 million passengers (expandable to 200 million), less than 15 kms from the present Ninoy Aquino International Airport, on an area of at least 2,500 hectares, including a CBD and industrial component, plus a speed railway, expressway, and an ancillary seaport along the coast of the 190-km Manila Bay, to link booming Clark and listless Subic further north as well as Sangley airport and the Batangas port south of NAIA.
Additionally, the proponent must have conducted feasibility and due diligence studies, lined up a world-class airport partner, negotiated with possible financiers and suppliers of facilities, equipment, and services to complete the airport in record time with the first two of four runways operational within four years.
San Miguel first made the proposal to build NMIA in 2013. Had then President Aquino approved the project, the Philippines would have been enjoying one of the world’s most modern airports today.
What probably turned off competing bids was a huge hurdle—the airport must not be financed by the government and won’t get any state guarantees or subsidies.
If an unfriendly government in the future makes a decision adverse to the viability of the airport, San Miguel won’t be able to sue the government for damages from such material adverse decision. An example: Stopping the collection of passenger terminal fees, the proposed airport’s main revenue source.
With a looming global slowdown, San Miguel should be able to keep costs down because of softening prices of materials globally, and declining interest rates here and abroad.
A veritable “aerotropolis,” NMIA will have its own seaport, industrial, residential, commercial, institutional zones, and a new government center making vital government services more accessible to fast-growing areas in Luzon.
Metro Manila is less than 30 minutes away, via interconnected expressways and rail—including a shoreline expressway that will traverse Manila Bay and head straight to NMIA.
NMIA will mean many things for the Philippines. As an economic engine, the airport is estimated to contribute up to 5 percent of the value of annual economic production or GDP. Based on a GDP of P23 trillion by 2023, that 5 percent is easily worth P1.1 trillion. Employment, direct and indirect, will be two million. Arrivals will likely hit 20 million annually. Tourism-related jobs will expand to above 40 million in four years.
Singapore has a population of 5.6 million and yet attracts 18.5-million arrivals, a ratio of 3.3 tourists for every one resident. Hong Kong has a population of 7.3 million and attracts 65-million visitors, a ratio of nine visitors for every resident.
By 2023, the Philippines will have a population of 113 million. As an archipelago of 7,300 islands with a heritage that blends the best of the East and the West, and with over 1,000 major tourist attractions, the Philippines should be able to attract at least 50-million arrivals yearly, assuming savvy marketing and country branding.
The San Miguel aerotropolis will be a showcase of what Filipinos can do. It is a long overdue and much-needed solution to problems rooted in our aging and inefficient airports—where flight delays and congestion are the norm.
Filipino travelers will have a greater sense of pride when they fly in from other countries. Facilities will be more than adequate, service levels will be consistently high, there will be zero delays caused by air, runway or taxiway congestion.
Airport congestion is a serious problem that both airlines and passengers have to contend with. In the present NAIA, annual losses of airlines brought about by air traffic congestion are estimated to reach more than P10 billion per year. This will continue to grow if no new airport capacities are built.
“We thank President Duterte for bringing this historic project closer to reality. We share in government’s vision to make this country better, and the lives of the Filipino people better,” said SMC president Ramon S. Ang, in a statement, after learning that no one showed up for the Swiss challenge.
“From the time we first proposed to build a new international gateway, our goal was simple: help address the perennial problem of airport congestion, which has weighed down many aspects of our lives,” Ang said. “This has caused stressful and costly delays for both passengers and airlines; it’s a continuing safety concern for aviation officials, and it has also greatly hindered and limited our economic growth. It has even contributed to the worsening traffic on our roads.”
The SMC airport is “a long-term solution—a sustainable and world-class Philippine gateway with enough runways and facilities to meet current and future needs,” the SMC president said, adding:
“It is our single biggest investment in our country. It will be built at no cost to government and with no subsidies or guarantees of any kind. As part of a larger infrastructure ecosystem that consists of existing and future expressways and mass rail systems, it will be easily accessible from north and south Luzon and will help in significantly decongesting Metro Manila.”
“It will raise our country’s profile and competitiveness as an investment and tourism destination, and help boost our local and export industries. It will make the lives of many air passengers—balikbayans, OFWs, tourists—and the locals so much better and easier,” said Ang.