Ang: SMC’s proposed ‘aeropolis’ will be a game changer

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp.  (SMC) has vowed that the group’s P750-billion brand-new “aeropolis” proposal in Bulacan—which will be built at no cost to the government—would be a “game-changer” in job creation and attracting foreign tourists.

SMC president Ramon S. Ang said during the company’s stockholders meeting on Thursday that the proposed aeropolis would be built in a shoreline property near Malabon and Navotas, about 20 kilometers away from Manila.

Ang said that in relation to the Bulacan aeropolis project, SMC had also offered to rehabilitate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) for free “so the government can run it more efficiently.”

In exchange for building the Bulacan airport without any government guarantee or subsidy, SMC has proposed to operate it under a 50-year concession.

The proposed airport will have four runways with length of 3.2 kilometers and width of 60 meters each. The air bridge can accommodate 200 airlines take off and landing at the same time, compared to the current capacity of less than 50 at Naia.

There will also a provision to build two additional runways in the future, Ang said.

“You won’t have to wait to take off or land. Congestion will be eliminated,” Ang said.

At Naia, Ang said runway congestion was not the only problem as there were likewise bottlenecks in the taxiway.

“This will be very convenient to the public and with this new airport, we can bring in at least 20 million tourists,” Ang said.  He said the airport would also create over “20 million in new jobs.”

Excluding returning Filipinos or balikbayans who add to the six million annual foreign arrivals in the Philippines, Ang estimated that actual foreign tourist arrivals in this country might just be two million a year.

Ang said the proposed Bulacan airport would be a “state-of-the-art” facility.

At 2,500 hectares, Ang said this would not be the biggest in the region in terms of land area, as this was only a fourth of Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.

“We believe this project will be a game-changer for the Philippines,” Ang said in a message to stockholders.

Once completed, this aeropolis will feature modern passenger terminals, and cargo and commercial facilities. It will be connected to Metro Manila via new and existing expressway and mass rail projects such as Skyway system and the MRT-7 (Metro Railway Transit Line 7) project.