[ Manila Bulletin Online ] May 7, 2008
By FRED M. ROXAS
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga — Clark authorities have opened more than 10,000 hectares of the Clark Subzone as the next frontier for investors here, an area which is more than twice the size of the main Clark Freeport.
Clark Development Corp. (CDC) Business Development Group assistant vice president Bernardo Angeles Jr. said the state-owned corporation has started preparing the master plan for the development of a 10,684-hectare area out of the 27,000- hectare Clark Sub-zone, otherwise known as the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ).
The CSEZ is under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Export Processing Zone (PEZA) through Republic Act 9400 or An Act Amending RA 7227, otherwise known as the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992.
The sub-zone covered by the master development plan is more than twice the size of the main 4,400-hectare Clark Freeport.
Angeles noted that there is a strong demand for land from both local and foreign businesses that plan to invest inside the Clark Freeport.
He added that the CDC wants to put premium in the pricing of land inside the Clark Freeport.
CDC president Levy P. Laus, during his speech at the CDC 15th anniversary, described the Clark Subzone as a new frontier for investors eyeing the former US military facility for their business operations.
Clark has opened the new frontier after a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) between CDC and the Aeta tribes, validated by the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), was completed. This agreement has freed 10,684 hectares for development, with the Aeta tribes receiving a generous share from the lease proceeds, Laus said in his speech.
This was shared by Asialuxe Philippines senior vice president Wilfredo Rivera, who recently signed a lease agreement for a .6-million expansion project here.
Rivera said Chinese investors are scouting for areas where to put their money.
He added that with the development of more lands in Clark, the CDC will be able to entice more local and foreign businesses to locate at the Clark Freeport and the sub-zone.
On Dec. 6, 2007, the CDC, NCIP, and Aeta tribes signed the JMA that allows both CDC and Aetas to profit from the development of 10,684 hectares of the Clark Sub-zone.
______________________________________________________________________
