A consortium composed of South Korean and European firms has been awarded an $11 billion airport project in the Philippines that was previously granted to a Chinese state-owned firm.
The Cavite provincial government awarded the contract to develop the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) to a multinational consortium comprised of companies from the Philippines, South Korea, and Europe on Sept. 14.
The group includes local firms Cavitex Holdings, House of Investments, and MacroAsia Corporation—owned by Filipino tycoon Lucio Tan—as well as South Korea’s Samsung C&T Construction, Germany’s Munich Airport, and Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd.
“Sangley Point International Airport is envisioned as a two-runway airport with a capacity for 80 million passengers per annum, expandable to four runways to handle up to 130 million passengers per annum,” it stated.
The project also includes the construction of a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) connector road with provisions for rail connectivity, as well as fully integrated logistics and aviation support facilities.
China Lost SPIA Deal
MacroAsia initially partnered with China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC). They won the $10 billion SPIA project in December 2019, but it was terminated last year over their failure to submit post-qualification paperwork.The projects include the Philippine National Railway Bicol Project (PNR Bicol) worth 142 billion pesos (about $2.5 billion), the 83 billion peso (about $1.47 billion) Mindanao Railway, and the 51 billion peso (about $906 million) Subic-Clark Railway.