03/10/2011 [ tribune.net.ph ]
The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) wants to speed up the development of priority investment zones within the freeport.
SBMA administrator Armand Arreza said the agency has identified eight separate initiatives to develop more areas for business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport.
These include the redevelopment of Subic’s Central Tourist District, rezoning of the Subic Gateway Park for commercial and mixed-use development, conversion of the 16-hectare marshalling yard into the Gateway Business District, establishment of anchor educational institutions at the Paradise lot, development of a maritime industrial complex around the Hanjin shipyard, development of integrated resorts in Cawag and Minanga, redevelopment of the Subic Bay golf course, and the push for outward expansion.
Arreza said the development of new investment sites is crucial to sustaining Subic’s development momentum in face of Subic’s limitation in available open space.
Developed mainly as a base for the US Navy, the Subic free port zone has a land area of only 55,102 hectares, most of which are triple-canopy forests designated as part of the National Integrated Protected Area System.
Ayen Infante
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