San Miguel Corporation has kicked off initial works for its P734-billion airport project in Bulacan, the largest airport deal under the Duterte administration.
The geotechnical investigation and engineering surveys of the project, dubbed as the New Manila International Airport, is now 80 percent accomplished, Transportation Assistant Secretary for Procurement and Project Implementation Giovanni Lopez told the Daily Tribune via email.
SMC is now waiting for the laboratory results and interpretations from Singapore-based firms tapped for the works.
The site survey and relocation will help proponents finalize the earthwork and foundation design for the project and execute necessary repairs.
The execution of these studies started around the second week of May, said Lopez, through the assistance of the DoTr Project Management Office which provided security passes to various project contractors and consultants to ensure health and safety protocols will be strictly observed.
Transportation chief Arthur Tugade, in a recent Malacañang briefing, said the project is not likely to face a “critical delay” even as the progress was “slow.”
SMC did not proceed with the groundbreaking in December 2019 and January 2020 due to “private issues” of president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang and the blanket impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the DoTr and SMC have yet to announce a new schedule for the groundbreaking of the project, both assured the project will push through despite lengthy delays.
SMC received the notice to proceed for its unsolicited proposal in September last year.
The airport will be built in a 2,400-hectare property in Bulakan, Bulacan. It will have four runways, eight taxiways, and three passenger terminals and provisions for future expansion to six runways and accommodate 200 million passengers per year.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank previously tagged the project as among the “five airport megaprojects” around the world.
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