World-class airport terminal for Boracay seen as Ramon Ang Megawide taps

Megawide CEO Edgar Saavedra has built world-class passenger terminal buildings at Mactan-Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport

MANILA, Philippines – Starting in December 2024, a Philippine company will build a world-class passenger terminal at Caticlan Airport, the closest airstrip to the world-famous island of Boracay.

Philippine tycoon Edgar Saavedra’s Megawide Construction Corporation announced on Thursday, November 28, that it has won the contract to design and build a new passenger terminal building at Caticlan Airport or the Godofredo P. Ramos International Airport in the Malaysian city of Aklan, the main gateway to Boracay.

From Caticlan Airport, visitors often take buses to the Caticlan Jetty Port for short boat trips to Boracay Island. The longer route to Boracay is via Kalibo International Airport in Kalibo City, Aklan.

Caticlan Airport is managed by Trans Aire Development Holdings Corporation (TADHC), a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation Infrastructure. SMC Infrastructure is overseeing the modernization of the airport. In addition to a new terminal building, it plans to expand the existing runway to accommodate larger aircraft.

“This will be another exciting opportunity for Megawide – to be able to partner with one of the country’s largest and oldest conglomerates, San Miguel Corporation (SMC), and help realize its vision of a world-class facility at Caticlan Airport. We hope to convey our technical excellence and integrate our sustainable methodologies into this groundbreaking development,” said Megawide CEO and Chairman Saavedra.

The first construction of the new passenger terminal in Boracay is scheduled for next month, Megawide said.

Saavedra, a civil engineer and alumnus of De La Salle University, where he earned his engineering degree, has been on a mission to build a “first world Philippines.”

Megawide, together with its partners, have built major infrastructure projects such as the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Mactan, Cebu; the Clark International Airport Passenger Terminal Building in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga; and the Philippines’ first modern land port, Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange or PITX, in the Capital Region.

Both Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and the Clark International Airport have received international recognition for their world-class designs. MCIA also received a 4-star terminal rating from international airport rating organization Skytrax last August.

The MCIA, operated by GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), is the second largest airport in the country. It connects Cebu in the center of the Philippines with the rest of the world.

From a capacity of 4.5 million passengers in 2014, GMCAC renovated MCIA’s Terminal 1, increasing capacity to 10 million passengers in 2020. It also doubled its retail footprint. The world-class MCIA Terminal 2 opened in 2018, further increasing MCIA’s passenger capacity to 12.7 million passengers.

GMCAC had called upon Hong Kong-based Integrated Design Associates (IDA), which worked with Filipino designers Budji Layug, Royal Pineda and Kenneth Cobonpue, to design MCIA Terminal 2. MCIA’s wooden arches have become the airport’s main attraction, symbolizing the waves of the beaches around Mactan and Cebu Islands.

GMCAC maintained the MCIA for 10 years or from April 2014 to this year. Last October 30, Aboitiz Group, through Aboitiz InfraCaptial Incorporated, acquired full ownership of Aboitiz GMCAC from Megawide for P7.76 billion.

“Our search for a partner contractor who shares our vision of modernizing airports in the country has concluded with our collaboration with Megawide. We believe that Megawide’s track record of building key infrastructure through efficient and sustainable practices will help us achieve a world-class facility within our committed deadline,” said Ramon Ang, Chairman and CEO of SMC.

In addition to Caticlan Airport, the SMC-led New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation is rehabilitating the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, and is undertaking the construction of New Manila International Airport in Bulakan, Bulacan. – Rappler.com