MVP still keen on investing in Clark airport
This was the quick answer of Manuel V. Pangilinan, board chairman of Smart Communications and other top companies, when asked if he was still interested in investing at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.
In a recent roundtable with provincial journalists here, Pangilinan said “the phase of the national government will determine our phase [in investing at the DMIA].”
Pangilinan bared anew to the BusinessMirror the feasibility study on the DMIA he had commissioned early this year.
The Madrid, Spain-based Indra group reportedly suggested to Pangilinan that the former US-owned Clark Air Base in Pampanga be operated both as a domestic and international airport, similar to Japan’s Haneda and Narita airports, to service rural and urban areas.
The DMIA sits on a 2,500-hectare sprawling aviation complex compared to the 600-hectare property of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Parañaque City.
“I am sure all of you have experienced being delayed while landing or taking off from Naia. In about three years, it will be congested and reach its full capacity,” said Pangilinan, who is also interested in investing in one of the private hospitals in Angeles City.
Pangilinan stressed that the DMIA should be the country’s “second international airport.”
As of June the DMIA averages 80 international and local flights per week, most of which are by Cebu Pacific offering regular flights to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Macau and Cebu, according to the public relations department of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), operator of the DMIA. On January Pangilinan personally conveyed to CIAC president and CEO Victor Jose Luciano his desire to operate or invest the airport named after a former president from Lubao, Pampanga.
Luciano on Tuesday said “MVP’s [Pangilinan] statement puts us on the same track as what we in CIAC have been emphasizing all along, and we have been getting strong support from the Department of Transportation and Communications [DOTC] and the business and management sectors of society, both the national and local associations, including the foreign chambers.”
“It is very encouraging to note that big-ticket investors, like MVP, have taken a strong interest in Clark. CIAC is focused on building Clark as the second international gateway of the country,” he added.
Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan agreed with Pangilinan that the DMIA should “the second international airport for now.”
He cited the international airport in Los Angeles (LA), which the government plans to transfer to another area in California, USA.
“Like the LA airport, much as they want to transfer the present airport to a place or area like Clark, they cannot do it as fast as they can. The structures supporting the LA airport, like logistic hub and ancillary business structures and enterprises, are not yet at the DMIA,” said Pamintuan.
The first-term mayor said, “Someday the Naia will be saturated and congested and it will just close shop and Clark is it.”
Pangilinan cited Hong Kong which opened a new airport in 1998—Chek Lap Kok Airport—paving the way for the closure of Kai Tak Airport. He didn’t categorically mention that the Naia should be closed in favor of the DMIA.
Gilda Padua of Ties That Travel, president of the Association of Travel and Tours Agencies of Pampanga (ATTAP), welcomed Pangilinan’s “re-interest in Clark.”
She said the ATTAP and the Bangkok-based KBS Travel and Intertrade Co. Ltd. had partnered to increase inbound passengers at the DMIA.
“More tourists in Pampanga means more jobs and opportunities for the community,” said Padua, who recently led a familiarization tour with ATTAP members and Pampanga-based newsmen in Bangkok.
She added that her group and KBS managing director Kosol Booma will promote Clark and Pampanga as tourist destinations to Thailand residents.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011 19:48 Joey Pavia / Correspondent/ http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/regions/13099-mvp-still-keen-on-investing-in-clark-airport
Incoming search terms:
- airport investing companies
