The Subic Bay International Airport’s P2-billion redevelopment and upgrade into a major international gateway received proposals from three “extremely interested” companies, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Martin Dino said in a statement.
“Believe me, three companies wanted the project. We want the airport to be fully operational again, and to be at par with the best airports in Asia and the world,” Dino said.
SBIA boasts of a long runway fitted to handle long-haul wide-body jets and heavy air transport, but it has been mostly idle since mid-2009 when US-based logistics giant Federal Express closed down its Asia-Pacific transshipment hub.
Dino said three of the airport’s equipment valued at half a billion pesos could not be accounted for by the previous administration, which turned over the Freeport facility to Dino in September last year.
He said the new SBMA leadership was pushing ahead with the airport’s upgrade, “because we want to make the Subic International Airport operational anywhere from six months to one year.”
Dino, in a letter last month to Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, identified the three interested companies as AIA Airways, Intercontinental Pacific Airways and RIL International & Global Link Co., Ltd.
AIA Airways wanted to build a $1.5-billion logistics center and transshipment hub for cargo airline operations, supported by a maintenance repair station and a world-class aviation institution in the tradition of the US Dallas Forth Worth. It is projected to generate 800 new jobs.
RIL International & Global Link Co. Ltd made a $1.5-billion proposal to lease, develop, upgrade, modernize and operate SBIA to include provisions for a modern airport terminal, hotels, theme parks and a sports complex.
Intercontinental Pacific Airways wanted a $48-million airlines operations center including maintenance, repair and overhaul operations. It is projected to employ 610 workers
Redeveloping the airport including modernizing its facilities and technical equipment is among the five priority projects of SBMA that Dino proposed to President Rodrigo Duterte to decongest land and air traffic and port congestion in Metro Manila.
The redevelopment would raise Subic airport’s facilities to international standards capable of handling thousands of passengers and all types of cargo, he said.
“It could serve as an inter-modal [airport-seaport] logistics hub and a strategic area for cruise destinations [mother ports], junket trips, VIP Jet services and other-related air travel,” Dino said.
Dino said his goal was to make the former US naval facility a major contributor to the nation’s economy by attracting more business locators and generating thousands of jobs.
He said new tourism and manufacturing investments could generate 100,000 new jobs and exports, including those from nearby economic free zones in Luzon, could increase to $43.35-billion a year.
“By enhancing Subic’s importance as a gateway, it could generate foreign direct investments estimated at $13.5-billion,” Dino said in a letter to Tugade.
Tugade also sought and gained the transport chief’s approval for the construction of a 100-km multi-modal elevated expressway and railway from Subic Port to the Port of Manila.
The other priority projects within the Freeport Zone include the building of major infrastructure that, Dino said, “will begin to shift the momentum of development north toward Subic and Clark.
Compared to other cities, the Subic-Clark corridor “is the only place that has a sustainable future” and its “full-blown expansion is the key” that would trigger an inflow of investments, he said.
Dino said the shift could be traced to President Duterte’s historic China pivot and an independent foreign policy, “inaugurating a new Philippine-China economic partnership and putting the Philippines in the mix of the world’s fastest-growing region.”
