President Rodrigo Duterte said he is pleased with the proposal submitted by San Miguel Corp. to build ‘one of the biggest airports in the world’ in Bulacan as alternative to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
During Duterte’s one-on-one interview with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, the president said he has seen the proposal and that he is pleased with the consortium’s plan especially with the recent two-day closure of NAIA in August after a Xiamen Airlines plane skidded off a runway at the airport.
“Ramon Ang is there, consortium nila… Nakita ko maganda,” Duterte said.
Earlier, San Miguel president Ramon Ang revealed that Bulacan Airport is set to become one of the biggest airports not only in Asia but in the world.
In his speech during Far Eastern University’s 90th General Commencement Exercises where he was conferred the degree of Doctor of Business Engineering Honoris Causa, Ang shared his company’s plans in the field of infrastructure, particularly their proposed Bulacan Airport.
“The Bulacan Airport will be one of the biggest airports in Asia and the world,” Ang said.
If approved by the government, the Bulacan airport will be named New Manila International Airport.
The business tycoon underscored that the airport will help boost the country’s employment and tourism. Over 1 million direct and indirect jobs will be available for overseas Filipino workers and locals during its construction phase.
“It will have six parallel runways good for 200 million passengers equipped with mass transit. It will create 40 million jobs and bring in 20 million foreign tourists a year. A comparable country like Thailand with a population of 100 million brought in 30 million tourists,” Ang said.
SMC submitted a proposal to build, operate, and maintain an airport in Bulacan. The 1,168-hectare airport can accommodate over 200 million passengers annually, more than triple than Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (NAIA) capacity.
A city complex will also be built at a 2,500-hectare area along Manila Bay in Bulacan, Bulacan.
