San Miguel to spend $300mn

MANILA: San Miguel Corp will spend $300 million upgrading and developing an international airport complex near the tourist island of Boracay in the central Philippines, and its president said it will also bid for three more airport projects.

The food-to-power conglomerate plans to build a hotel and convention centre adjacent to the airport, and extend the runway at Caticlan to 2,500 metres by 60 metres from 950 metres by 30 metres now, Ramon Ang told reporters on Saturday.

He expects the construction to end in 2013. San Miguel, through its unit TransAire Development Holdings Corp., has so far spent 2.5 billion pesos ($58 million) in the initial rehabilitation of Caticlan airport.

The group is developing the airport under a 25-year build-operate-transfer contract with the government.

Speaking at the inauguration of the initial airport upgrade, Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who has targeted tourism as a growth engine for the economy, said he expected tourist arrivals in Boracay to rise 30 percent from the current annual volume of 700,000 passengers.

Aquino said the government would pursue similar upgrades in the Daraga and Bohol airports in central Philippines and Puerto Princesa southwest of the capital under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.

"We invested here because we saw the potential that we can contribute to adding tourist arrivals," Ang said, adding San Miguel would bid for the three other airport projects.

He previously said the company would bid for other projects the government wants to pursue under the PPP scheme, including toll roads.

Copyright Reuters, 2011