Malaysian group offers to upgrade Clark airport

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines  – A consortium backed by the Malaysian government has assured President Aquino that it is ready to immediately develop a modern airport terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) amid recent temporary closures of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“If given the go signal,” Bristeel Overseas Ventures, Inc. (BOV) head William Chee said, “we are willing to immediately pour-in $150 million in direct investments into the Philippines to jumpstart the development of Clark as the country’s main international airport.”

BOV submitted recently a proposal to the Clark International Airport Corp.  (CIAC) to build a new terminal at the DMIA under a joint venture with the state-run firm. The new terminal could accommodate as much as seven million passengers annually.

“Aside from our proposal to expand Clark airport’s present terminal, we are also serious about a grand plan of developing a master-planned development of a city within a city at Clark, as well as  a rapid railway system that will connect Clark and Metro Manila in less than 45 minutes ,” Chee said.

“BOV is confident of being able to raise the billions of dollars needed to fully prepare and develop Clark as the country’s premier international airport,” Chee added.

A “due diligence study” conducted by CIAC indicated that BOV’s consortium members are made up of publicly listed Malaysian companies engaged in infrastructure and utilities projects and have combined assets of about $1.5 billion.

To demonstrate BOV’s readiness to undertake the Clark project, Chee said his consortium has already presented its proposed architectural designs and plans for an expanded terminal at Clark. He said the design “incorporates a number of traditional and indigenous Filipino motifs.”

“As we congratulate President Aquino on his recent inauguration, we also would like to express our confidence in his leadership and promise of good governance through our willingness to invest in major infrastructure developments in the Philippines,” Chee said.

NAIA recently suffered intermittent shutdowns due to aging airport navigational equipment and runway visibility problems brought about by Metro Manila’s worsening air pollution problems.

The temporary closure of NAIA’s operation forced numerous international and domestic flights to land at other airports in the country, most of them at nearby Clark airport just 80 kilometers north of Manila.