MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Corporation (SMC) confirmed that both its New Manila International Airport (NMIA) in Bulacan and Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT7) face delays that will push their partial operation and completion dates back once more.

Responding to various news reports about the construction delays surrounding the NMIA, San Miguel confirmed that the airport might now start operations in Q1 2028, not in 2027 as originally planned. SMC pinned the blame on a lack of sand that has slowed down construction works.

“The suspension by the government of the Manila Bay reclamation projects has limited the sand sources of the company,” SMC said in a stock market disclosure on Tuesday, August 27. “In the event the backfill and sand sources are made available to the company, the NMIA may be operational by the first quarter of 2028.”

Ramon Ang’s conglomerate first obtained the rights to develop the Bulacan airport during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ang has since bagged an even bigger prize after a consortium led by San Miguel won the bid to operate the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Philippines’ main gateway.

With Ang having control over the two international airports serving the Greater Manila Area, there were fears that construction might slow down in Bulacan. However, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista previously refuted these concerns, stating that SMC was developing NMIA at “full blast” alongside its commitment to rehabilitate NAIA.

“Based on the report of San Miguel, they should be able to operate two runways before the end of the term of President Marcos,” Bautista said about the Bulacan airport.

“Maraming nagsasabi na gagastusin ni [Ramon Ang] muna ‘yung pera dito sa Manila, i-dedelay ang Bulacan. So, arrangement namin, no delay for Bulacan. And they cannot afford also to delay kasi meron silang penalty under the concession agreement. So, walang incentive for them to delay ‘yung Bulacan project,” he said during a meeting of the Monday Circle Financial Forum on July 8.

(Many are saying that [Ramon Ang] will spend the money here in Manila first and delay the Bulacan project. So, our arrangement is that there will be no delay for Bulacan. They also cannot afford to delay because there is a penalty under the concession agreement. So, there is no incentive for them to delay the Bulacan project.)

NMIA, developed on a sprawling 2,500-hectare property, will have an initial capacity of 35 million passengers. Once fully completed, it is expected to handle up to 100 million passengers per year. (READ: Is Ramon Ang’s airport project a cause of flooding in Bulacan?)

MRT7 completion date pushed back again

The MRT7, another project by San Miguel, is once again facing delays, pushing its completion date to 2028.

“The completion of Metro Rail Transit Line 7, up to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, may be delayed up to 2028 due to the pending issues on the alignment and location of the San Jose del Monte Station,” SMC said in its Tuesday disclosure.

SMC said the local government of San Jose del Monte City wants to move the MRT station that was supposed to be constructed in the area based on the original alignment.

The transportation secretary also previously said that they “still have some issues with the 14th station” of the MRT7.

“‘The local government, they don’t want us to have that station in that area. Sabi nila (They said), it’s very congested, and it will create a lot of traffic, there will be disruption in business operations of big establishments in San Jose del Monte,” Bautista said last July 8.

“They are suggesting that we move it to another [site], which is like 800 meters away from the existing planned station,” he added.

SMC said in its disclosure that it has yet to resolve the issues with the local government, but that the MRT7 is still set to begin partial operations in 2025.

The rail project has been hounded by delays for years, mainly due to right-of-way issues. Plans for the MRT7 were first floated way back in 2001, with SMC starting construction in 2016. Originally, the MRT7 was expected to be operational by 2020, which was then moved to 2021, and then again to 2022, and then yet again to 2023.

San Miguel only broke ground for the MRT7’s turnback guideway in April 2023. In a chance interview that same month, then-transportation undersecretary Cesar Chavez told Rappler that the first 10 stations of the MRT7 were expected to become operational in Q3 2025 while the Caloocan and Bulacan stations would be completed in 2027.

The MRT7, which costs around P77 billion, will have 14 stations from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan. Once completed, the railway line is envisioned to service about 800,000 daily commuters, reducing travel time from Quezon City to Bulacan from three hours to 35 minutes. – Rappler.com