PHIL.

ECONOMY TO FLY ARRIVAL AT BULACAN INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT
Horrors such as the Xiamen Air plane skids that caused the closure of Naia’s
main runway for almost two days from Aug 16 until 18, where thousands upon
thousands delays or cancellations of flights only exaggerating the sorry state
of the country’s Airport, and why the creation of a new airport progress is
badly needed.

In the day of September is the day where change is about to start by the
Bulacan International Airport being awarded to a San Miguel Corp’s wholly-
owned unit, the San Miguel Aerocity which would be in charge of building,
operating, maintaining, financing and designing the Php. 734 billion proposed
airport, which is said to be built at no cost to the Philippine government.

The project Located 50km northwest of Manila targeted to be completed

within 4 to 6 years will have eight taxiways, hundreds of air bridges, several
passenger terminal buildings capable of handling around 100 million
passengers annually superior compared to NAIA‘s design annual capacity of
31 million passengers where in 2018, 39.5 million passengers where served
against its capacity showing that it’s way past due that the country build a
new airport. It will also have six parallel runways each with a 3.5-kilometer
length which can accommodate even the largest passenger aircraft four times
more compared to the two existing runways of NAIA.

In addition, a new 8km toll road will be built, connecting the new airport to
the southern part of Metro Manila, via the “new shoreline expressway,” that
would cut travel time between the Bulacan airport and the Entertainment City
complex to only 30 minutes. SM Company will build an expressway that would
link its airport to the North Luzon Expressway that would bring travel time to
SM City North EDSA to about 60 minutes and will likewise have a link to the
SMC-backed Metro Rail Transit Line- 7 in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.

The massive airport complex spanning about 1,168 hectares would rise along
Manila Bay, covering about 2,500 hectares in Bulacan. A consortium backed
by SM Group and Solar Group offered to reclaim 2,500 hectares in offshore
Sangley Point, Cavite. The P1.3 trillion plan was to transform the area into a
new international airport, seaport and industrial complex dubbed the
Philippines Global Gateway. This is where issues about building the airport
arose.

Reclamation is where new land is produce by filling bodies of water with large
rocks and/or cement then filling the gaps with clay and dirt until it reaches the
desired height. The processes of reclamation obviously have its
consequences, especially concerning marine life and their habitat. Fishes
and their habitats are gravely affected which in return affects fishermen’s
livelihood, therefore militant fishers under the Pambansang Lakas ng
Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) oppose the DENR for the
approval of the project, were out of the 2 500 hectares, 2,000 hectares of it
are fishpond area in the coastal barangay of Taliptip. 2000 hectares where
around 700 fishing and coastal families are threatened to be oust by the
project leaving the families without homes.

For the Airport to be built more than 600 mangrove trees were already
cleared, where at least 670 kilos of fish are lost for every hectare of
mangrove destroyed. Apart from the loss of traditional fishes and reduction
of fishes caught by the fishers in Bulacan. The reclamation is also straying
from the right path it just got on. For some time Manila Bay is undergoing
rehabilitation where new of volunteers gather and help clean the bay, filling
it with land is going against the purpose of restoring the beauty of the Manila
bay it once had.

Another alarming effect that reclamation will bring upon is more flooding to
the flood prone area of Bulcan, an effect that is cause by raising the water
level caused by the filling of land in the water and causing pressing
ecological concerns, intensifying the flooding issues and accelerating the
sinking of Bulacan.

In reply to the issues of flooding San Miguel claims that even the environment
is to benefit, as a parts of the plan is to build a spillway that will channel all
the excess water from the Pampanga River and nearby watershed areas
straight into Manila Bay, bypassing Bulacan’s plains and solving the province’s
annual flooding problem.

In defense of all the controversy surrounding the project it was rebutted by

stating that the fish ponds that would be affected by the reclamation are
privately owned, hence that no fishers will be affected under the project
stated by the DENR Central Luzon Regional Office. As for the housing San
Miguel Corp. alongside The government promise to provide a decent
relocation site and livelihood, having 200 families had been promised free
housing, financial and education assistance and livelihood. In another
statement they said that the reclamation project is actually a land
development project and that there is no Protected Area being affected
project area involves titled properties.

Having all issued assured to be solved and cared for having the airport to be
built is a must for the countries growth. We can’t pass on the opportunity of
an Airport that the government won’t have to spend a single peso of the
people’s money. Rest assured by the country’s largest conglomerate – San
Miguel Corporation who has committed themselves the finance, through a
combining its own financial assets and the faith of its creditors, both here and
overseas

The goal of the project is obviously to decongest the Ninoy Aquino

International Airport which opened in the 1980s and has been operating well
beyond its design capacity. It will also improve traffic in Metro Manila as
travelers going in and out of the airplanes will be redirected to Bulacan, a
province outside but still near Manila.

Having an airport would increase the land value of its surrounding area that
will boost the net worth of Filipinos by improving tourism, boosting small local
industries, manufacturing, exports, also allowing the creation of thousands of
jobs for Bulakenyos residing in northern part of Metro Manila and its nearby
provinces. The project is expected to create one million new jobs by hiring
thousands of construction workers from the surrounding provinces. Thousands
of architects, engineers and technical staff would also be expected to have job
opportunities.

The Bulacan International Airport would benefit not just the Filipinos of this
generation but of generations to come. A project that would boost the
economy of the country and give more opportunity for its people, with it the
country and its people will soar to the skies together.