[ manilastandardtoday.com ]
San Miguel Corp. honcho Ramon S. Ang,
or RSA, will be the last person to provide a clue on the location of an
international airport that his conglomerate plans to build. Mr. Ang has his reasons—he
has not completed the acquisition of the property that will host the new
international airport and he does not want lot prices in the undisclosed area
to spike up, until he nails pending transactions.
It may be too late for that. RSA’s
announcement in late August about San Miguel’s plan to construct a new and
modern international airport has sent real estate agents to a frenzied state.
Speculators easily deduced that the new airport would take advantage of the
road and rail networks that San Miguel planned to build in and at the
oustskirts of Metro Manila.
The new airport, thus, could be
located in the southern towns of Bulacan province, or in the proximity of
northern Metro Manila. The facility, based on local aviation rules, should be
at least 24 kilometers away from the nearest international airports to avoid
congestion in air traffic. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque
City is at least 30 kms away from the boundary of Bulacan and Quezon City while
the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport is at least 60 kms farther from
the southern edge of Bulacan.
Rail and road network
San Miguel’s plan to build a 14.2-km
elevated, six-lane road project that will connect the North Luzon Expressway
and the South Luzon Expressway and a separate 22-km train line from San Jose
del Monte in Bulacan to the corner of North Avenue and Edsa in Quezon City will
be the critical link to the new airport.
Airline passengers arriving at the new
airport must be transported quickly to Metro Manila. San Miguel’s combined
elevated road and train line will provide airline passengers a more flexible
intercity travel.
Real estate speculators have initially
pinpointed San Jose del Monte, Bulacan as the possible site of the new airport,
which Ang wants to build on a 2,000-hectare property. Sources said San Miguel
could be building a landbank in San Jose del Monte in preparation for the
airport.
The city’s location is ideal—San
Miguel’s planned MRT 7 railway project ends there from Edsa in Quezon City. The
San Jose del Monte station will also serve as the intermodal transportation
terminal of the MRT 7, where commuters traveling to the north can be linked by
buses. Airline passengers arriving at the new airport in San Jose del Monte,
meanwhile, can be ferried by a dedicated rail coach to parts of Metro Manila
and San Miguel’s elevated road in Balintawak, Quezon City.
Coastal towns
Coastal towns or cities, however,
offer a more ideal airport location. San Miguel’s planned airport in such
coastal areas could serve as a full intermodal transportation hub, where buses,
taxis, train, ships and ferryboats can fetch airline passengers to their
destination.
At least five towns in Bulacan could
host San Miguel’s international airport, although the conglomerate may need to
reclaim parts of their coastal areas in Manila Bay. The towns of Bulacan,
Obando, Paombong and Hagonoy and Malolos City hug the shoreline of the province
and are close to the northern edge of Metro Manila.
They are just a few kilometers away
from the Balintawak end of San Miguel’s tollway that starts from Buendia Avenue
in Makati. The toll road, part of the 30-kilometer Metro Manila Skyway project
package approved by the government in 1995, will have exits in Quirino in
Manila and Plaza Dilao, Aurora Boulevard, E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon Boulevard,
Sgt. Rivera and Balintawak in Quezon City.
E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or
extrastory2000@gmail.com
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