Golden age for transpo infra

President Marcos’ strongest statement during his recent State of the Nation Address may have been the banning of POGOs or Philippine offshore gaming operators by the end of the year but we also heard loud and clear the huge improvements in many facets of our economy.

During his speech, the President mentioned the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) public-private partnership  as going down in history not only as among the largest and fastest approved PPPs but one that has set the bar in terms of openness, transparency and competitiveness of the process.

He emphasized that through this partnership (between the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) Group), the country’s foremost aerial gateway is now primed for revitalization. Once considered among the worst and most stressful airports in the world, NAIA will soon be a world-class international airport that Filipinos can be proud of, Marcos said.

Based on what we heard from no less than SMC chairman Ramon Ang himself recently, not only will tourists have a better experience at NAIA, travelers can also expect safer and more efficient departures and arrivals as well.

Expect NAIA to be flood-free as the SMC-led consortium, which bagged the contract to rehabilitate NAIA, likewise plans to widen and deepen all the rivers and creeks around the airport. The DOTr will be turning over the operations and maintenance of the NAIA to New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) on Sept.14. NNIC is composed of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics Inc., RLW Aviation Development Inc and Incheon International Airport Corp.

NAIA’s passenger capacity is expected to increase to 62 million from 35 million,  while the runway capacity will go up to 48 movements per hour from the current 38 movements per hour.

DOTr expects that in the first six years of the concession, NNIC will be putting in an estimated P88 billion in investments into NAIA. The government also expects to generate P900 billion in revenues for the entire 25-year concession period, which will come from the P30-billion upfront payment, P2-billion annual payment and 82-percent government revenue share.

Meanwhile, in his SONA, the President also mentioned that the CLLEX, NLEX-SLEX Connector and the Plaridel Bypass will be fully completed by the end of this year while CALAX and the C5 South Link will be fully operational by next year. Significant segments of major expressways, which are part of the Luzon Spine Expressway Network, have also been opened to the public.

The Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) will be connected to other expressways to be integrated in the country’s superhighway network and these include TPLEX, SCTEX and the North Luzon East Expressway or NLEEX which is still under construction but will connect Nueva Ecija straight to Metro Manila.

Marcos likewise emphasized in his speech that the country is in the midst of a “railway renaissance.” He said that the much-awaited Metro Manila subway project (MMSP), which the DOTr says is expected to be partly operational by 2028, has logged significant accomplishments in its tunneling works while other railway projects such as the MRT-7 and the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) are likewise progressing.

The 33-km subway project spans from Valenzuela in the north to NAIA Terminal 3 and FTI in the South. It will be interconnected and interoperable with the North-South Railway system’s south segment which will enable passengers to board a subway train at North Avenue station of MMSP and get off at the Calamba station of NSCR.

He also mentioned that as part of the LRT 1 Cavite Extension project, the LRT Line 1 route in Metro Manila will be extended from Baclaran to Sucat and which will be opened this year. In a few years’ time, he said that line will extend all the way to Bacoor, Cavite. In addition, he said that 76 new and modern trains have been added to LRT 1.

Marcos likewise announced that the PNR Bicol Line, covering 100 kilometers from Naga to Legazpi is now open to the public.

The President, meanwhile, revealed that more than 70 airport and seaport development projects across the country have been completed and another 350 ongoing projects are set to be completed by 2028.

We are also excited about the New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project in Bulacan of the San Miguel Group, which is expected to be a game- changer for the country. It is going to be a world-class airport that will have an initial capacity of 35 million passengers annually and a target of 100 million passengers per year once fully completed.

Ang is confident that the new airport will be operational by 2028, with land development now at 84 percent.

The P750-billion NMIA will have four parallel runways, a world-class terminal and a modern and interlinked infrastructure network that includes expressways and railways. Even SMC’s own MRT-7 project will connect to the airport, Ang revealed. This will make going to and from the airport convenient and even traffic-free.

Faster and more efficient and hopefully cheaper movement of people, goods and services and less traffic at that, has an enormous multiplier effect and will benefit the economy in more ways than one. Traffic congestion in Metro Manila alone already costs the Philippine economy at least P3.5 billion a day or P1.27 trillion annually. This is expected to increase to P1.97 trillion by 2035 unless no effective intervention is done.

The Metro Manila Subway’s direct economic benefits alone is expected to save about P2.5 billion daily from reduced vehicle costs, travel time and carbon emissions. Imagine the economic as well as the unquantifiable benefits all these projects will bring to our nation.

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