RSA, MVP in talks for joint infra ventures

Two of the country’s stiffest corporate rivals are in talks to join forces to build crucial infrastructure for the country under the incoming Duterte administration, beginning with a brand-new international gateway for the metropolis.

San Miguel Corp. and the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan have entered into discussions for the $10-billion international airport project along the Cyberbay reclamation area that seeks to match world-glass gateways within the region, but this didn’t gain ground then.

San Miguel president Ramon S. Ang told reporters after the company’s stockholders meeting Tuesday that since the airport project was a big undertaking, his group was willing to bring in partners.

Ang said he had spoken with Pangilinan and agreed to work together. He said they were now in “advanced” discussions for mutual cooperation for infrastructure projects, beginning with this airport project.

“Instead of us doing projects on our own, we decided to find areas of cooperation,” Ang said.

The cooperation with the group of Pangilinan—who heads Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd. which has 80 percent of its assets invested in the Philippines—could extend beyond the airport to other infrastructure projects like tollroads and even mass railway transits, Ang said.

On the proposed airport project, Ang said: “We will sit down and give him a presentation. We will decide from there what area of cooperation we can pursue like in Parañaque and Las Piñas.”

Ramon S. Ang and Manny V. Pangilinan

San Miguel is proposing a new airport to be built along CyberBay Corp.’s disrupted waterfront reclamation project along the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road, covering the cities of Parañaque and Las Piñas. The proposal was to make use of the 157 hectares of reclaimed land already finished by Cyberbay near the Entertainment City of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.  However, the entire project needs 1,600 hectares, thus requiring more reclamation based on the original master plan.

But Ang said it would be up to the new administration to determine the most suitable location. He said San Miguel and Pangilinan would still work together—for instance, bid for a contract under the public-private partnership (PPP) framework—wherever the government’s preferred site would be. However, he said Clark Freeport may be too far to be an alternative option.

Ang said it’s also possible for the new airport to be built in phases.  The first phase could be worth $2 billion which would be good enough to accommodate 50 million passengers and become as good as the existing airport in Hong Kong.

The proposed airport will take about five years to build, he said.