Biz Buzz: No flooding at Naia, Ramon Ang vows

May 4, 2024 was a memorable date for billionaire Ramon S. Ang of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), but it’s not because of a personal or business milestone.

That fateful Saturday was the day that Changi Airport in Singapore was flooded due to heavy rain, causing flight delays.

What makes it so memorable for Ang? Well, according to him, it’s the fact that no one seemed to bat an eye since the flooding happened at the world’s best airport in Southeast Asia’s richest economy.

“Do you remember that? I feel like the majority of you are not aware of it,” Ang told reporters during the recent Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-SMC Aviation Forum.

It was nothing at all like the viral videos about the flooding at our very own Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) due to Supertyphoon “Carina” in July, said the tycoon. Nothing at all like the infamous “surot” (bedbug) and rat incidents at the country’s main gateway.

Ang did not forget about Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest gateways, which likewise suffered from devastating floods in April.

“The airports you look up to that are worth billions are also prone to floods,” Ang said.

But with SMC, through the New Naia Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC) consortium, now leading the rehabilitation work at one of the world’s worst airports, Ang promises that flooding and other issues will be a thing of the past.

According to SMC’s chair and CEO, they will begin by clearing out the trash clogging rivers going to Manila Bay.

“[Transportation] Secretary Jaime Bautista has given us the permit to start the work immediately,” Ang said. “Soon, you’ll see heavy equipment there meant to widen and deepen these rivers.”

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NNIC officially took over the operations and maintenance of Naia on Sept. 14 and promised a long list of improvements.

But what’s in it for them? While there have been talks of a real estate play to help generate money for the consortium that committed an eye-popping 82 percent airport revenue share to the government, Ang says that’s not the case.

All he wants out of the P170-billion project—at least, for now—is to just speed up rehabilitation efforts.

“For Naia, we’re not planning any real estate or profit play … what we want is to immediately decongest it so it can operate well,” he said.

With the multibillion-peso rehabilitation underway, let’s see if this will still be the case.