Skip to main content

Bulacan airport deal signed, construction to start December


Design study for the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan (Photo from CNN)


Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 18) — San Miguel Corporation (SMC) will start building a new international airport in Bulacan after securing an official contract from the Department of Transportation (DOTr).
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade signed the concession agreement on Wednesday which officially awards the ₱734-billion deal to SMC unit San Miguel Aerocity Inc. He also gave the green light for SMC to build, operate, and maintain the New Manila International Airport as he issued the notice to proceed with the project.
Tugade and San Miguel President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang signed the agreement at the ASEAN Convention Center inside the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. The deal grants a 50-year concession period for SMHC to operate the airport, with no government guarantee or subsidies and the right-of-way costs shouldered by the private firm.
"We may be able to do groundbreaking before the end of the year," Ang said during a media briefing, noting that construction will start in December. He added that engineering works have started two years ago.
San Miguel secured the deal as no other companies presented counter-proposals to the company's unsolicited proposal back in August.
SMC put forward the new airport proposal back in 2016. It will be built on a 2,500 hectare property in Bulakan town, about 30 kilometers northeast of Metro Manila. Ang described the project as a "game-changer" for tourism — with an expected 30 million tourists flying in — as well as for the economy of Central Luzon.
The main goal is to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which has been the main entry and exit point to Manila for air travelers. Apart from the Bulacan gateway, work is also underway to expand the use of the Sangley Airport in Cavite for local flights. President Rodrigo Duterte mandated that the alternative airport south of Manila be operational by November.
Tugade said with more gateways, air travel would be more "comfortable and convenient" for Filipinos.
The planned international gateway will feature four runways and can accommodate up to 200 million passengers per year, and will sit close to the Clark International Airport. But Ang said the Bulacan gateway would be 15 minutes away from Balintawak in Quezon City, marking a comparative advantage versus Clark, which he said could take a two-hour drive.
All four runways will be completed by the fifth year of construction, which is within the four to six-year period given by DOTr for the airport completion. 
The project also involves building an 8.4-kilometer tollway that will connect the "aerotropolis" to the North Luzon Expressway in Marilao, Bulacan. Apart from this, the planned airport would also be accessible through the Skyway Stage 3 link which will cut travel time even when coming from Southern Luzon.
SMC has revealed that it will be tapping foreign builders and designers for the project, which include the makers of Singapore's Changi Airport and France's Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Source and Original Article:>>> CNN Philippines

Comments

Post a Comment
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular posts from this blog

READ: Malacañang’s statement on UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard’s PH visit

From Presidential Spokesperson Ernest Abella: “We are aware that Dr. Callamard is currently in the Philippines and we are disappointed that, in not contacting our government in advance of this visit, she has sent a clear signal that she is not interested in getting an objective perspective on the issues that are the focus of her responsibility. On September 26, 2016 we sent a letter to Dr. Callamard congratulating her on her appointment as UN Special Rapporteur and in that letter we issued an invitation for her to visit the Philippines to meet with members of our government and others to get our perspective on the drug menace confronting our country and the efforts of law enforcement and others to address that challenge within the means allowed by Philippine law. Our hope at that time was that Dr. Callamard would accept this invitation as part of a commitment to carry out her new responsibilities in a manner that was objective and fair to all perspectives on th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Duterte: Church is its own problem

President Duterte claimed that the he was not the problem of the Catholic Church as their greatest adversary was itself. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (RICHARD MADELO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) In his speech during the proclamation rally of PDP-Laban in Negros Occidental, Duterte reiterated his tirades against the Catholic Church. The President noted that he was only defending himself from the criticisms against him by members of the clergy while behind the pulpit. “I have a very serious problem with the church. Hindi ako ang problema ng church, sila. Eh ganun talaga (I am not the problem of the Church. Their problem is themselves. That’s how it is),” he said. “Edukado naman tayong lahat (We are all educated here). If you want to criticize me and you are a priest or a preacher, itong pulpito na ito (this pulpit), do not use this. You have to go out because there is a separation of church and state and nobody but nobody can stop a citizen from criti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grace Poe gets burned by DOTr for grandstanding on MRT

Photo from Mindanation Senator Grace Poe has made a career out of sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong and leveraging issues completely unrelated to her in order to forward her agenda. Her most recent ’cause’ is the MRT-3, which she described to media as in a state of “lumalalang kondisyon”. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) however, was not in the mood to becoming the latest toy of Poe’s political career. In a statement posted to their official Facebook page, the transportation agency politely and effectively rebutted Poe’s claims and educated Poe on why her assumptions were absolutely baseless. The DOTr makes an important point – since 2016, services and operations have been improving. The statistics for unloading incidents and services interruptions were on an increasing trend until 2016, when they finally started going down. The new administration has been doing all it can to mitigate the negative consequences of the system they inherited – tra...
Post a Comment
Read more