[ Malaya.com.ph ] August 27, 2008
By IRMA ISIP
Newly-appointed Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president Benigno Ricafort said the agency has commissioned a study on how to make better use of its land and find means to expand as new locators take up the bulk of the Freeport.
It is also doing an inventory of non-operating locators within the main zone to free up the choice areas.
Two major investors have eaten up a huge chunk of the main zone. Samsung Electronics of Korea has reserved 80 hectares for a planned $1-billion chip manufacturing while Texas Instruments of the US, which is building a $1-billion chip-making plant on a 32-hectare site, has also reserved an additional 60 hectares for its suppliers.
Ricafort said the CDC does not have enough space to offer after these two investments adding that only 500 hectares are available at the main zone.
He said the CDC would develop the Clark subzone across Sacobia, known as the Next Frontier, covering 10,600 hectares but has to address the problem of some 10,000 informal setters in the area.
Of the10,600 hectares, only 20 percent or 2,000 hectares can be used as the area is largely where lahar flow from Mt. Pinatubo settled. The initial report would be ready in two weeks, he said.
Ricafort said based on initial assessment, the Next Frontier is ideal for mixed use, high value and light industries as well as wellness.
But he said the hilly part would be reserved for ecotourism as the trees in the area serve as watershed.
Ricafort said the CDC would have to finance the development of the infrastructure of Next Frontier, including a road network, that would support the investments to locate there.
"There is no development there, no infrastructure, no utilities. We have to make a plan. This requires deliberate ideas," Ricafort said.
He said the CDC is now also "finding ways to appease the informal settlers" who had relocated to the area after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
"We have to sit down with them. We have to improve their lives and their social outlook," Ricafort said.
Of the 4,800 hectares in the main zone, only 500 hectares are available.
Another plan is to free up lease contracts
of locators which are no longer operating.
"We are now reviewing that," he said.
Some of them are pioneer locators but have to shut down because their businesses have been overtaken by time, Ricafort said. They include a number of duty-free shops.
"We have to maximize the returns to the government," Ricafort said of the planned zoning development.
The former American military base has been subdivided into the main or special zone and the bigger logistics zone where the airport is located. This zone is now under the supervision of the Clark International Airport Corp. and the Bases Conversion Development Authority.
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