THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) aims to resolve before year-end the issue on the unsolicited proposal of the local government of Cavite to develop, modernize and expand the airport in Sangley, and is open to consider other proposals should the provincial government fail to deliver the requirements set by the agency.
Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said his group may give the Cavite government until the end of the year to submit the deficiencies of its proposal. This, he said, will help the national government move forward to evaluating other offers for the development of Sangley.
“There has been no movement since we last announced the missing components. There is a private proposal, but under the rules, the priority is given to a government proposal,” he said.
Tugade added: “Of course, I will give them a deadline. I hope that we will have something before the end of the year—that is my target.”
He noted that should the Cavite government fail to submit the missing components of the proposal—something that he tagged as a “roadblock”—the government may now move forward with the evaluation of the unsolicited proposal of the SM Group.
“It will come, when every roadblock has been removed. The roadblock is the missing portions of the proposal,” Tugade said.
The proposal of the government of Cavite lacked the declaration of its financial and technical capabilities to undertake the project. Specifically, the transportation department is seeking the mode of implementation of the project. Under its proposal, the provincial government intends to develop Sangley Airport to have a total capacity of 130 million passengers per year and four runways through 2028. The P552.02-billion unsolicited offer, likewise, has a provision for the construction of mass-transit systems and new roads.
The other proposal—submitted by Sangley Airport Infrastructure Group Inc., a company led by the Sy family’s Belle Corp. and Solar Group’s All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp. (ARRC)—involves the development of the airport to become a regional hub that can accommodate about 120 million passengers every year once fully developed.
It proposed to create a new air metropolis that involves the reclamation of about 2,500 hectares of land, the rehabilitation of the Danilo Atienza Air Base, and the construction of another terminal.
The group intends to reclaim 500 hectares of land north of the Sangley peninsula, which will be used for the development of airport infrastructure and a commercial establishment to complement the project.
The Danilo Atienza Air Base, according to the group, will be rehabilitated to accommodate general aviation movements, thus reducing congestion at the decades-old Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) during its development. The new air hub will be designed with two parallel independent runways and sufficient airside and terminal capacity to accommodate future demand for domestic, international and transfer traffic, not only for the Philippines but for all Southeast Asia.