DIVERSIFIED conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has chosen three of the designers and builders of the world’s best airport to design and build the P734-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulacan.
Groupe ADPI, Meinhardt Group and Jacobs—three companies that worked to develop the Singapore Changi Airport—were tapped by the Filipino conglomerate to create the future-ready airport that may replace the aging Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Initial designs were earlier shared with the media, baring plans of a “future ready” facility that “focuses” on the overall passenger experience, while employing sustainable technologies “consistent with the needs of the environment and the local communities of Bulacan and nearby provinces.”
Ramon S. Ang, the company’s president, noted that his group has yet to choose a “world class airport operator” that will help manage facility in the future.
“This is our biggest investment in a single project to date, one that will definitely impact the lives of millions of Filipinos and the country in general—all the more reason for us to push for greater sustainability and choose the best people to work with us,” he said.
Based on its terms, the diversified conglomerate will build an aerotropolis that will have a capacity of 100 million passengers per year. The airport, to be located in Bulacan, will have four runways, an 8-kilometer toll road linked to the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), and all aviation-related facilities and equipment.
With a 50-year concession deal, the airport will serve as a replacement or a complementary gateway to the existing Naia.
Ang also gave assurances that those affected by the development will have “better homes in relocation sites with fishing power boats where they can easily reestablish their livelihood.”
“This project’s success is anchored on helping support the local fishing industry. We are in the process of identifying areas where together we can build a fishing community that will last for generations to come,” he said.
Ang added that his group’s vision is to turn Bulacan into the seafood capital of the Philippines, “where seafood is exported to other countries, and tourists come in droves to sample them—similar to what happened to Japan’s Tsukiji for so many years.”
When completed, the airport will accommodate an initial 20 million passengers per year, and will “fuel trillion of dollars in economic activity annually,” while creating 20 million direct and indirect jobs.
The NMIA is an unsolicited proposal from SMC, which first floated the idea in 2016. It won the contract to build, operate, and maintain the facility last month, when no one challenged the proposal.