Ang: Airport project did not cause Bulacan flooding

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Aerocity Inc. (SMAI), the developer of the New Manila International Airport (NMIA), has maintained that its airport development in Bulacan includes long-term flood mitigation measures, as it pushed back against claims linking the airport to recent flooding.

In a statement, SMAI said NMIA is designed to protect both the airport and surrounding communities from long-existing flooding risks in the province’s low-lying coastal areas. 

It said extensive research, engineering studies and hydrological modeling for the project, conducted by Danish international firm DHI, began as far back as 2018 and has resulted in a multi-year process to address flooding.

As the project transitioned to construction, SMAI said Dutch marine engineering firm Boskalis and DHI developed an alternative to extensive river widening to address land constraints and avoid impacting mangrove areas.

SMAI also continued maintaining the rivers around the airport, with San Miguel Corp. removing over 4.3 million metric tons of silt and waste from rivers in Bulakan town; the Bocaue, Guiguinto and Balagtas rivers; rivers in Malolos; the Obando, Meycauayan and Marilao rivers; and the Labangan-Angat River.

However, SMAI said measures being undertaken for the airport and surrounding areas should not be confused with the much larger challenge of managing flooding across Bulacan.

“Protecting the airport and nearby areas and addressing Bulacan’s larger flooding problems are two separate challenges,” the company said.

“We can engineer NMIA for the conditions of the site and mitigate its impact. But protecting communities across Bulacan requires looking at the whole system – from the water coming from upstream, to the rivers carrying it, to the coastal areas where it eventually has to drain,” it said.

SMAI said claims circulating online linking the airport to recent flooding following weeks of heavy rains have not been accompanied by hydrological data, technical analysis or any identified expert source establishing such a connection.

“NMIA did not cause Bulacan’s flooding. This is a problem the province has had to contend with for many generations,” the company said.

“Our responsibility is to make sure the airport is built for these conditions, and that its development does not make flooding in the province worse,” it said.

SMAI said flooding in Bulacan is driven by a combination of the province’s low-lying geography, heavy rainfall and river flows from upstream areas, limited river capacities and land subsidence.

It said rising sea levels and continued development across the province are also adding pressure to an already complex watershed.

Further, SMAI noted that NMIA is not a reclamation project, but a land development on existing, titled land in Bulakan that had long been used as commercial fishponds and had become increasingly prone to inundation over time.

SMAI said it would continue implementing NMIA’s environmental and flood-mitigation commitments, while working with government agencies and local governments on broader measures to improve river capacity and flood resilience across Bulacan.