New Caticlan Airport terminal begins buildout by July, says Dizon
San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in the next few weeks will start building the new terminal at Caticlan Airport, the gateway to Boracay Island, to improve tourism activities in this popular beach destination.
According to the Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon, the groundbreaking for this project was set this month or in July.
In a forum that the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines hosted last week, Dizon said the goal is to finish construction by the end of 2027.
Last November, SMC awarded to Megawide Construction Corp. the contract to design and build the new passenger terminal building.
Megawide was previously part of the consortium that managed the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. The Aboitiz Group has taken over management of that facility.
The new building at Caticlan Airport is expected to cater to seven million passengers yearly. SMC Infrastructure subsidiary Trans Aire Development Holdings Corp. will run it.
Caticlan Airport is part of San Miguel’s infrastructure portfolio. This also includes the P740-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project and rehabilitation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
The NMIA in Bulacan is expected to accommodate up to 100 million passengers yearly at full capacity. It is designed to have four parallel runways, a terminal and an interlinked infrastructure network that includes expressways and railways.
San Miguel, through the consortium New Naia Infra Corp., took over the operations and maintenance of Naia in September last year.
The group plans to build a new passenger terminal building with a yearly capacity of 35 million passengers.
Dizon previously said they were eyeing to privatize the operations and maintenance of 10 more regional airports by 2028. These are the airports in Iloilo, Davao, Siargao, Laoag, Busuanga, Bicol, Tacloban, Bacolod-Silay, General Santos and Puerto Princesa.
To make this pipeline financially viable, the government is considering bundling the multiple projects into a single contract.
Last week, the government officially turned over the Bohol-Panglao International Airport (BPIA) to the Aboitiz Group.
The initial plan includes expanding BPIA’s capacity from 2 million to 2.5 million passengers per year within the first two years. By 2030, Aboitiz targets to further increase annual passenger capacity to 3.9 million.
