The Department of Transportation said Monday the Bulacan International Airport and the Metro Manila Subway Project are expected to be partly operational by the end of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term in 2028.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the land development of the P740-billion New Manila International Airport project in Bulacan being developed by San Miguel Corp. is now almost 70-percent to 75-percent completed.
“We’re expecting it to be completed by the end of this year or early first quarter of next year, and after that the group of Mr. Ramon Ang can start construction of runways and the passenger terminal building,” Bautista said in an interview with ANC.
“I had a meeting with Mr. Ramon Ang. He said that all the plans are on track and financing is available. Their technical people are working on it, and we continue to review their submission of documents,” he said.
Bautista expressed optimism the new airport would be partly operational before the end of the term of the president.
The project will feature four parallel runways, a world-class terminal and a modern and interlinked infrastructure network that includes expressways and railways
San Miguel tapped the services of global firms Groupe ADPi, Meinhardt Group and Jacobs Engineering to design and build the New Manila International Airport.
Bautista also said the P488.5-billion Metro Manila Subway Project was expected to be partly operational by 2028 and commence full operations by 2029.
“We’re hoping that the tunnel from Valenzuela to Ave. Avenue will be completed by the end of the year,” he said.
“We’re taking delivery of more tunnel boring machines which operate simultaneously, so that we will be able to finish the project by 2028 or maybe 2029. But we will try our best to complete it by 2028 or make it partly operational by 2028,” Bautista said.
The 33-kilometer subway, dubbed as the “project of the century”, span from Valenzuela in the north to NAIA Terminal 3 and FTI in the south.
It is expected to reduce travel time between Quezon City and NAIA from one hour and 30 minutes to 35 minutes. It is designed to serve around 370,000 passengers a day in its first year of full operations and up to 1 million passengers a day in later years.
It will be interconnected and interoperable with the North-South Commuter Railway System’s south segment, enabling a passenger to board a subway train at North Ave. Station of MMSP and get off at the Calamba Station of NSCR.