SMC keen on improving NAIA operations

MANILA, Philippines — Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) plans to improve the operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) while construction of its massive P740-billion Manila International Airport project in Bulacan is ongoing.

In a statement yesterday, SMC  said it is not interested in getting any share of revenues generated by NAIA, with its proposal purely for the airport’s operations and maintenance, to ensure that it operates better and more efficiently until the Bulacan airport is finished.

SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said the company’s plan is not in the same magnitude as that of Megawide’s P109-billion unsolicited proposal to upgrade and transform NAIA.

“Our interest in NAIA does not intend to replicate what Megawide had in mind for NAIA. Our proposal is brought on only by the need to have it running effectively and safely for the Filipino people, until our Bulacan airport project is up. And until our airport is ready, that task needs to be done,” Ang said.

“Unlike all the proposals that required a share in the revenues of the NAIA – including passenger fees and lease rentals – we are not interested in the revenues. We want to improve NAIA for the passengers. We want it to be run more efficiently, for service levels to be improved, until the new airport is operational,” he said, adding that all revenues will go to the Manila International Airport Authority.

Ang said SMC is also leaving it up to the government to decide what to do with the NAIA in the future.

He said its proposed 10-year concession is designed to give government a freer hand to do what it wants with the NAIA, once the Bulacan airport is completed and operational.

For the tycoon, the government could better benefit from selling or redeveloping the NAIA property with a new and much larger world-class gateway with four runways just north of Manila.

He said the 646-hectare NAIA complex could potentially earn the government as much as P2 trillion, which can be used for various purposes.

“Government can then earn more – and even generate more jobs – once new commercial or residential developments rise in the area. Revenues from these new developments will most likely be higher than that of airport fees,” Ang said.

SMC said operating and maintaining NAIA is part of its original proposal for the Bulacan airport development.

However, the Department of Transportation had that portion of the proposal removed.

Aside from SMC, the Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc. is also in the running for the takeover of the NAIA after government talks with a super consortium of conglomerates bogged down and Megawide lost its upper hand.