The departing administration now wants to sell the old Manila International Airport. The prime property can repay a big chunk of the P7.5-trillion public debt it racked up in six years. That sale should have commenced years ago. MIA is hopelessly congested. Middle class subdivisions cannot be relocated, thus its shelved P100-billion expansion and T-shaped runway extension.
Yet the admin dawdled. Nearly a billion pesos was spent to facelift one terminal, the same amount to replace baggage conveyor in another and still the same amount to move light cargo planes to Sangley Point 28 kms away. The aged aerodrome only earned bad aviation and travel reviews, recently as the world’s worst for business-class passengers. Rains flood up the Sangley runway.
All that time, San Miguel Corp. was proposing to use its own P740 billion to build a New MIA on its land in Bulacan. Although franchised by Congress for 50 years to build and operate the NMIA, interminable bureaucratic requirements kept delaying groundbreaking. Will the incoming admin see things clearer?
Newsbits on SMC’s project whet investor and tourist interest. The 2,500-hectare site will have four parallel runways, plus space for two more. Briefing columnists Monday, SMC president-CEO Ramon S. Ang arithmetized what the first two runways alone can accommodate. “Let’s be conservative, with only 250 passengers per flight:” 250 x 50 take-offs and landings per hour x 2 runways x 24 hours a day x 365 days a year = 219,000,000 passengers a year. Four-and-a-half times the old MIA’s maximum of 47 million. A big boost to tourism, travel and trade. Frequent fliers Ang and his team prioritize safety, security, on-time reliability, comfort and convenience.
How far from Manila? “Twenty minutes from Kilometer 0, Rizal Monument, on a 16-km elevated coastal highway,” Ang beamed. Highways will connect NMIA to Luzon’s many tollways; SMC’s Metro Rail Transit-7 will loop through it.
Last week, the Dutch government approved an export credit insurance of 1.5 billion euros (P84 billion) for land development by Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. Before that, Atradius Dutch State Business and four international consultancies reviewed onsite for a year NMIA’s long-term environmental and social impact mitigation measures. The 90-year-old agency’s insurance covers compensation for adverse effects. “This shows that our environmental and social mitigation plans are not only sound but robust, given they can pass international standards and the exacting requirements of the Dutch government,” Ang said.
The departing administration now wants to sell the old Manila International Airport. The prime property can repay a big chunk of the P7.5-trillion public debt it racked up in six years. That sale should have commenced years ago. MIA is hopelessly congested. Middle class subdivisions cannot be relocated, thus its shelved P100-billion expansion and T-shaped runway extension.
Yet the admin dawdled. Nearly a billion pesos was spent to facelift one terminal, the same amount to replace baggage conveyor in another and still the same amount to move light cargo planes to Sangley Point 28 kms away. The aged aerodrome only earned bad aviation and travel reviews, recently as the world’s worst for business-class passengers. Rains flood up the Sangley runway.
All that time, San Miguel Corp. was proposing to use its own P740 billion to build a New MIA on its land in Bulacan. Although franchised by Congress for 50 years to build and operate the NMIA, interminable bureaucratic requirements kept delaying groundbreaking. Will the incoming admin see things clearer?
Newsbits on SMC’s project whet investor and tourist interest. The 2,500-hectare site will have four parallel runways, plus space for two more. Briefing columnists Monday, SMC president-CEO Ramon S. Ang arithmetized what the first two runways alone can accommodate. “Let’s be conservative, with only 250 passengers per flight:” 250 x 50 take-offs and landings per hour x 2 runways x 24 hours a day x 365 days a year = 219,000,000 passengers a year. Four-and-a-half times the old MIA’s maximum of 47 million. A big boost to tourism, travel and trade. Frequent fliers Ang and his team prioritize safety, security, on-time reliability, comfort and convenience.
How far from Manila? “Twenty minutes from Kilometer 0, Rizal Monument, on a 16-km elevated coastal highway,” Ang beamed. Highways will connect NMIA to Luzon’s many tollways; SMC’s Metro Rail Transit-7 will loop through it.
Last week, the Dutch government approved an export credit insurance of 1.5 billion euros (P84 billion) for land development by Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. Before that, Atradius Dutch State Business and four international consultancies reviewed onsite for a year NMIA’s long-term environmental and social impact mitigation measures. The 90-year-old agency’s insurance covers compensation for adverse effects. “This shows that our environmental and social mitigation plans are not only sound but robust, given they can pass international standards and the exacting requirements of the Dutch government,” Ang said.
Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying
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