NEW DELHI, India — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered government agencies to fast-track the troubled Sangley Point International Airport project in Cavite province, meeting with executives from Indian infrastructure giant GMR Group during his state visit to India.
Marcos met Wednesday with GMR executives at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi on the third day of his state visit. The company is a strategic partner in the long-delayed Sangley Aerocity Project, which aims to build an international airport and surrounding commercial development at the former U.S. naval base in Cavite.
The project has faced multiple delays and setbacks since it was first proposed nearly a decade ago as a solution to overcrowding at Manila’s main international gateway.
“His directive is red carpet treatment for GMR… to ensure investment and a better Philippines,” Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters after the meeting.
Marcos ordered full support from the Philippine Navy, transportation department, trade department and finance department to keep the project on schedule, according to Remulla, a former Cavite governor who has championed the airport development.
The Sangley airport is designed to ease congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which handles about 45 million passengers annually despite being designed for 31 million. NAIA consistently ranks among the world’s worst airports and serves as a bottleneck for the Philippines’ tourism industry.
“Within two and a half years, we will have one more runway. Twenty million more passengers can be accommodated within two years,” Remulla said in Filipino. “NAIA will be decongested, travel will be easier and more efficient. More foreign tourists will come.”
GMR operates airports globally and has experience in the Philippines, having developed the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport north of Manila.
The Sangley project is being developed under a public-private partnership led by the Cavite provincial government. The original timeline called for the airport to open by 2025, but construction has yet to begin on the main terminal and runway.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, GMR executives expressed interest in supporting the administration’s “Build Better More” infrastructure program during their meeting with Marcos.
The company is also eyeing bids for regional airports expected to open later this year, as well as other infrastructure projects across the archipelago nation.
The Philippines is seeking to modernize its creaking infrastructure to support economic growth and tourism. The country’s airports, roads and ports have long been criticized as inadequate for a nation of 110 million people spread across more than 7,000 islands.
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