MANILA - San Miguel Corp's airport project in Bulacan province, envisioned as an alternative to the capital's main gateway, can generate "over a million" jobs, said its president and COO, Ramon Ang.

The Department of Transportation on Thursday formally awarded the New Manila International Airport project to a unit of San Miguel after the unsolicited proposal went unchallenged.

"This project will generate over a million direct and indirect jobs, improving the quality of life of many families and giving rise to small industries in Bulacan and neighboring provinces, that will support its workers," Ang said in a statement.

The $15-billion project is seen to ease the load of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The DOTr expects construction of the facility to begin by the end of the year.

It is also targeted to be completed within 4 to 6 years, DOTr said.

San Miguel said it tapped the designers and builders of Singapore's Changi and France's Charles de Gaulle for the Bulacan airport.