In the Philippines, local investment vehicle Belle Corporation revealed this week that it has agreed to join a consortium hoping to build a new international airport on reclaimed land near the southwest suburbs of Manila.

According to a report from GGRAsia, Belle Corporation confirmed via a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange that it is partnering with an entity known as the Solar Group to participate in an enterprise called All-Asia Resources And Reclamation Corporation, which wants to spend around $50 billion on the Philippine Global Gateway Project at Sangley Point.

Belle Corporation is controlled by one of the country’s richest men in Henry Sy and moreover has a stake in the City Of Dreams Manila casino. It reportedly explained that the massive infrastructure project near Cavite City would include a new seaport and be located approximately 15 miles from the Entertainment City gaming and entertainments district.

The Philippine Star newspaper reported that Sangley Point is near the Manila-Cavite Expressway, which is a major toll road that runs northwest before ending near Entertainment City, with Belle Corporation declaring that the airport scheme including “its components, timing and investors” were being “worked out by All-Asia Resources And Reclamation Corporation directly and we understand that All-Asia Resources And Reclamation Corporation will be making the disclosures on these at the appropriate times”.

The newspaper additionally reported that Belle Corporation could take an equity stake in the scheme of up to 49% while it cited Wilson Tieng, President for All-Asia Resources And Reclamation Corporation, as stating that the planned airport would have the ability to handle up to 50 million passengers well into the middle of the current century.

“This project is very timely considering the air and land traffic congestion we are experiencing every day,” Willi Ocier, Vice-Chairman and Executive Director for Belle Corporation, told The Philippine Star.

However, the planned airport may have to compete with a similar proposal outlined by Ramon Ang, President and Chief Operating Officer for San Miguel Corporation, in 2014. His planned $10 billion project is also rumoured to be destined for land near the Manila-Cavite Expressway although Tieng told The Philippine Star that President Rodrigo Duterte had “verbally approved” the Philippine Global Gateway Project during an August cabinet meeting.

In June of 2015, Enrique Razon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, reportedly explained that his company would be willing to invest in a new international airport for Manila in order to help increase tourist numbers. The man behind the Solaire Resort And Casino suggested that any such development should also be designed to increase visitations to Entertainment City.