Race to build new airport tightens
The race among the country’s tycoons to build a new airport or expand the existing gateway has tightened with taipan Lucio Tan now joining the fray, but the government has yet to decide which offer to take, further aggravating the country’s infrastructure backlog.
Tan’s Philippine Airlines (PAL) last week unveiled a P20-billion plan to expand the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2, its current hub for local and international flights, and is open to taking in partners for the unsolicited proposal.
The government said it needs more time to review all the offers, including plans to bid out smaller airports across the country, but analysts stress there is a need to decide soon.
“We definitely need a new airport. At the very least, in the short term, we need to expand NAIA,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance Inc.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the Philippines is at least five years behind in building airports.
“Just imagine the economic impact that the Philippine economy would have gained from an airport that can handle all potential travelers. The longer the delay, the bigger the loss to the country,” IATA’s regional director Vinoop Goel has said.
Peter Lundgreen, CEO of Denmarkbased investment advisory company Lundgreen Capital, said more and better airports would certainly support the country’s underdeveloped tour- ism industry, thus offering potential income growth that is much higher than prioritizing better infrastructure for agricultural products.
“If good people waste too much time when traveling they may just stay where they are instead of producing around the country,” he told
Henry Sy, the country’s richest man, has teamed up with the Tieng family for a massive $50 billion proposal for an airport and seaport off Sangley Point in Cavite but since announcing the project last year, the group continues to wait for the government’s nod.
Ramon Ang, the 10th on Forbes’ 2017 list of richest Filipinos, is likewise waiting for the go-signal from the government on his offer to build a new airport which he proposed to put up in Bulacan.
PAL’s proposal involves the construction of a new NAIA terminal that would increase Terminal 2’s capacity to 20 million passengers per year from 7.5 million at present, its president Jaime Bautista said.
Other tycoons – Manuel V. Pangilinan, the Aboitizes and the Gotianuns,
among others – are likewise waiting for the government’s decision on the five smaller airports in the country, which it earlier planned to bid out.
The billionaires are getting anxious but the government appears to be in no rush, saying it needs to study the different offers thoroughly.
“Nothing is happening yet. We’re waiting,” said one business tycoon whose group has submitted an offer.
Transportation Undersecretary Manuel Antonio Tamayo said the department is still studying the proposals including the latest one from PAL.
“We’re still studying. There is a checklist that we’re following,” Tamayo said.
On the smaller airports, Tamayo said, “We want these projects to be completed before the end of the term of the President.”
Bautista appealed to the government to consider PAL’s proposal.
“Time is pressing down on us. We respectfully ask for the government’s urgent consideration and swift approval so that we can begin,” he said.
The airport proposals come at a time when NAIA is already bursting at the seams, handling 42 million passengers per year or 40 percent more than its maximum capacity of 30 million passengers per year.
Del Castillo, while he strongly believes on the urgency of having a new airport as soon as possible, said he understands why the government is taking time to decide.
“It’s not easy to approve infrastructure projects because there are related networks. There are hurdles. They have to make a thorough study,” he said.