Monday, 14 December 2009 00:00 [ manilatimes.net ]
BY BEN ARNOLD O. DE VERA REPORTER
STATE-RUN Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said it has tapped Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) to create a master plan for a central business district (CBD) encompassing an area between Subic Bay Freeport Zone and Olongapo City.
SBMA and the Olongapo City government recently forged a memorandum of understanding with ALI, appointing the country’s largest property firm as developer of the project dubbed as “Central Business District Triangle.”
Armand Arreza, SBMA administrator, said the CBD Triangle was conceptualized after President Gloria Arroyo in 2007 signed Executive Order 675, which granted tax and duty-free privileges to investors locating beyond the “secured area” but within Subic Special Economic and Free Port Zone.
SBMA said the upcoming CBD Triangle would cover a 7,000-square-meter land along and inside the triangle formed by Magsaysay Drive, Rizal Avenue Extension and Perimeter Road in Olongapo City, and of the freeport’s former SubCom Area.
According to the land use plan proposed by ALI, Magsaysay Drive would become a commercial office block, while Rizal Avenue Extension would be a residential area.
The plan also called for the establishment of an institutional area within the block composed of Fendler, First, Hansen and Third streets.
SubCom would be converted into a mixed-use area, with emphasis on retail establishments.
“The master plan aims to transform a portion of Olongapo City and the Subic Bay Freeport into a green, environment-friendly residential, commercial and institutional area,” Arreza said.
“This will be the initial project in accordance with the SBMA’s thrust to extend the physical boundaries of the Subic Freeport, and in the process generate more livelihood opportunities for people in the surrounding communities,” he added.
The appointment of ALI as developer of the new Subic CBD comes in the wake of the property firm’s establishment of its first green multi-use development project called NUVALI.
Straddling Santa Rosa and Canlubang in the province of Laguna, NUVALI would involve the development of a residential-cum-commercial zone that would tap green technologies, such as the use of recycled water and the deployment of clean energy.
___________________________________________________________________________________
