SMC gets Dutch credit boost for P740-B Bulacan airport

The Dutch government, through financial institution Atradius Dutch State Business (DSB), has approved an export credit insurance (ECI) for San Miguel Corp.’s P740-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project in Bulakan, Bulacan.

In a recent statement, the Ramon Ang-led conglomerate said that the ECI was extended to Dutch dredging and heavylift company Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., which was tapped for the land development works of the airport project.

An ECI represents financial coverage against the risk of nonpayment by a foreign buyer on products and services.

“This is a significant milestone not only for San Miguel and the NMIA project, but for the entire country. With this, we are closer to our dream of having a world-class, future-ready, and sustainably-built international gateway, proudly built by Filipinos for the Philippines,” Ang said.

“This also validates our work with Boskalis to ensure that this project is done right, and will provide long-term economic, environmental, and social benefits to our host communities and Bulacan province,” he added.

The approval of ECI, San Miguel said, came after over a year of assessing NMIA’s long-term environmental and social impact mitigation measures.

Socially responsible

The conglomerate noted that it was the biggest export credit agency insurance granted by Atradius DSB in its 90-year history.

“I am very pleased that all the hard work with a large team of experts has been successfully completed [today]. For more than a year, we have worked intensively with Atradius DSB to ensure that the construction of the new airport will take place in a socially responsible manner,” Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski said.

“[We] were able to ensure that the project [meets] international standards in the field of environmental and social conditions. In doing so, we have not only contributed to making this wonderful contract possible [but] also really made a difference together for the local communities and nature,” Atradius DSB managing director Bert Bruning added.

The airport project is designed to have four parallel runways, a terminal and an interlinked infrastructure network that includes expressways and railways. It is seen to generate over a million jobs.