San Miguel unveils artists’ concept for sprawling 100M-passenger-per-year Bulacan airport

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s newest and largest aviation hub, which San Miguel Corp. will start building before 2019 is out, will be able to handle up to 100 million passengers a year — more than double the existing capacity of the four terminals of Metro Manila’s ageing international airport.

Thus said the country’s largest conglomerate on Thursday as it gave the Inquirer an exclusive preview of the newly completed artists’ rendition of the New Manila International Airport which will be built in Bulakan, Bulacan for an estimated P734 billion, and at zero cost to the Philippine government.

According to San Miguel president Ramon Ang, the new airport’s capacity will help boost tourism in the country by facilitating an increase in tourist arrivals to as much as 35 million annually, from the 7.1 million recorded last year.

The San Miguel chief said NMIA will fuel trillions of dollars in economic activity annually for the country, create an estimated 30 million tourism-related jobs, generate more than a million direct jobs and make lives better for the people of host province Bulacan and the rest of the nearby provinces.

More importantly, Ang assured that this project “is designed to decongest Metro Manila.”

“It will provide more and better livelihood opportunities, not to take them away; ensure environmental balance and enhance resilience against calamities, because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

The proposed aviation gateway will have four runways, with enough space to expand to six, and will be part of a larger infrastructure ecosystem that will connect seamlessly with existing expressways and mass rail transits that will connect it to both southern and northern Luzon.

San Miguel said this project would be a long-term solution to the country’s airport congestion problem with the country’s main airport operating above capacity, and with no space to build additional runways.

The company said the airport would also be built taking into account sustainability and energy-efficient measures.

“We envision a brighter future for everyone, and we know what’s worth achieving won’t be easy,” Ang said. “We will face rough waters along the way, that’s why we need everybody’s help and support to make this dream a reality.”