The Department of Transportation is open to San Miguel Corp.’s proposed international gateway in Bulacan province as long as there is no government guarantee, a top official said Monday.
“There’s a letter from them [San Miguel]. We told them that we are ready to talk, subject to existing laws and regulations and there should be no government guarantee or subsidy,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.
Tugade also said there should be no provision in the contract that the operations of the airlines would be transferred to the proposed airport.
“If that is okay with them, we are ready to talk,” he said, adding the project should be approved by the National Economic and Development Authority and President Rodrigo Duterte.
“There’s also a Swiss Challenge,” he said, referring to to right of other parties to challenge the original proposal.
San Miguel offered to build the new airport north of Manila, a revision from its 2014 proposal for a $10-billion airport on a reclaimed part of Manila Bay in the southern part of the metropolis.
The conglomerate wanted to build an airport with at least four runways and covering 2,000 hectares in Bulacan towns near Manila Bay.
All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp., a consortium led by by tycoon Henry Sy and the Tieng family, also offered to build a new international airport in Sangley Point, Cavite.
ARRC plans to reclaim 2,500 hectares at Sangley Point. The company expects to complete the reclamation in 12 months.
The new airport would be designed to have a capacity of 50 million to 100 million passengers which would be completed in five years.