San Miguel, MVP group eye partnership for $10B airport

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Corporation (SMC) said it is in an advance stage of negotiations with the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) for a possible joint venture partnership to develop a $10-billion modern international airport.

SMC president and COO Ramon S. Ang said in an interview on the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Pasig City on Tuesday, June 14, that the final terms of the joint venture partnership have yet to be finalized. 

He said both parties will wait for the government to issue guidelines for the airport bidding.

Aside from the airport project, Ang added SMC is also in talks with the MVP group for other big-ticket projects that the government may bid out in the future, including tollways and railway projects.

“Between the two of us, we want to cooperate more. We are willing to cooperate in whatever way,” Ang said. 

Sought for comment, Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of an annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City on Tuesday that his group is willing to talk with Ang for any infrastructure project.

“As to infrastructure in general, yes, we are open to that,” Pangilinan said. (READ: The meaning behind new PLDT, Smart logos)

In 2014, SMC proposed the construction of a $10-billion modern international airport in a 1,600-hectare reclamation area along Manila Bay over a period of 5 to 7 years.

The planned airport will have 4 runways capable of handling 150 million passengers annually. It would be able to accommodate 250 takeoffs and landings per hour from the current capacity of 40 takeoffs and landings per hour.

However, the transport department chose to look for alternative sites for the new international gateway.

Ang said the proposed airport project could be done in phases, with the initial phase composed of a terminal with 50-million passenger capacity and two runways costing $2 billion.

On the sale of SMC’s telecom business to PLDT Incorporated and Globe Telecom Incorporated, Ang said all parties complied with the rules of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC).

“As far as I am concerned we have complied. We did not hide anything and we have submitted all documents. We deem it as complied,” Ang said.

But the PCC on Monday, June 13, said it denied the initial filing of PLDT and Globe, which was found to be defective and deficient. 

It said while the two companies made new submissions consisting of new materials not previously included in their initial notice to the PCC, the two parties continued to deny that these constituted a refiling. – with a report from Chrisee Dela Paz/Rappler.com