The controversial 735B airport project in Bulakan, Bulacan

 By: Athena Morales, Khyrus Santos

MANILA , Philippines - The 735B project is a collaboration with the government, Department of Transportation (DOTr) while working hand-in-hand with the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) under the signed 50 years agreement in 2019.

The New International Airport is known to be the country's largest international airport. It is to be built with four runways and stands as a post-pandemic economic recovery project and aims to aid the congested traffic in NAIA.


NMIA is expected to be completed by year 2027, with the initial capacity of the airport estimated to have 35M passengers a year; 100M upon full completion. The project is covered under the Republic Act 11506

Once the construction is completed the airport will be fully owned by the government under the “build-operate-transfer” program.

Location of NMIA:


NMIA will be built on a 2,565 hectare site in the municipality of Bulakan province of Bulacan, located 35 kilometers North of Metro Manila.

To have smooth traveling going to the airport, the project also proposes the development of an 8 kilometer railroad access to NLEX and 18 kilometer Skyway stage 3 going to SLEX.

Proposed railways:

One of the proposed 4 railways to be constructed as a route connecting to NMIA.
Photo by: SMC Infrastructure

The NMIA will not only be connected by roads, but by a new railway system as well. The Philippines National Railways (PNR) intends to construct the MRT 7 Airport Access — North Line Project, a 30.3 kilometer line with 7 stations. It aims to create a safe and convenient mode of transportation to neighboring provinces. Its indicative cost is PhP 130.90 billion.

The Contractors and construction status of NMIA:


The first phase of construction was done in the first quarter of 2021. As per the draft from SMC there will be a huge parking space for the passengers of an estimated 148,700m which can accommodate 4,000 vehicles.


The first construction is set to finish by 2024 according to SMC President Ramon Ang, as the land development is almost 70% complete, it is expected to finish in full by 2027. 


A huge departure is also the priority given that thousands of passengers are expected each year while the cargo hall is triple the size of a normal airport with a 505,000 cargo capacity.


The land development work headed by the Royal Boskalis Westminster was allotted a $1.8bn contract. They are in charge of preparing the land platform, creating access channels, offshore disposal area, and a berthing facility.


They work together with the ERM, an environmental resource management company to handle the work for the Environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA)



The project hired an engineer, management, and development consultant, Mott MacDonald and Apercu Consultants based in the Philippines.


The details and design for the new airport are all handled by Palafox Associates, an architecture firm who professionally mastered each corner of such projects.

Project Benefits: economically and the people:


With the construction of the airport comes benefits for all travelers foreign or local in that it will solve the problem of the over-capacity that is common in Filipino airports such as NAIA. The Clark International Airport may have eased it a bit, but the NMIA would ease it tenfold.


Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista foresees the airport as the gateway for businesses coming into the country once the airport is done.


The airport will also display a different side of the Philippines and be able to boost the country's tourism industry. What one is greeted with in NAIA and the CIA are urban buildings and such, but in NMIA one can see the provincial life as well as a province fraught with historical significance and beauty, a province rooted in tradition.

Possible consequences of the modernization:

Islands and fisheries are the main affected sectors by the construction of New Manila International Airport.
Photo by: Iya Arellano

AGHAM Diliman Chairperson Jerwin Baure said that the cutting of mangroves to give way to the construction will destroy the province's environmental state. Many advocates initiated a stand against the airport as this can destroy fisheries and such.


The government pushed through the project as they aim to ease air traffic, when in fact the pollution that follows multiplies tenfold.


The airport will give opportunities, but it will also quash existing ones. As the land needed for this project is large, the inevitability of people moving out looms, and many businesses will be shut down, most prominently the fishery businesses.


It has also been no secret that the province of Bulacan, where this airport is located, has been hit recently by severe flood on a scale rarely seen before the construction of the airport. This flooding may be disastrous in such places like Hagonoy where flooding has been a constant problem as its land sinks ever lower.