Published on 21 September 2012 [ manilatimes.net ]
Written by LOVELYN QUINTOS REPORTER
Building a ‘Green City’ at the 36,000
hectare portion of the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga will
approximately cost P200 billion, while the Japanese government-led Monorail
Project in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig will cost P26 billion, Bases
Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) president Arnel Casanova said
recently.
“We have not finished the master plan
for the Clark Green City yet but by December we will have a figure of how much
investment. But I think over the years that would be about $5 billion or about
P200 billion. That would be the worth of the project but that would be over the
years,” Casanova said at the sidelines of the Second Integrity Summit held in
Makati City.
He said that the master plan for the
Clark Green City will be finished by December. BCDA earlier announced that
joint venture firms PROS Architects and Engineers Co. and Woodfield Consultants
Inc. were awarded the contract to master plan the property.
Casanova earlier said that the green
metropolis would be a mix of industrial, institutional and commercial areas,
which would apply green technologies by adapting a Green Building System.
Renewable energy from sustaining sources will be used by all facilities and
buildings in Clark Green City that is half the size of Metro Manila, BCDA said.
Casanova said that the Clark Green
City will spur the development in Central Luzon and the entire country. He said
that BCDA targets to finish developing the property by 2016, with the first
phase of development to be implemented next year.
Monorail project
Meanwhile, the monorail project that
would connect the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) traversing Edsa to the Bonifacio
Global City and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 is
estimated to cost P26 billion, according to Casanova.
“We have estimated, based on the
initial studies, that the monorail project would cost about P26 billion,” he
said.
Casanova stressed, however, that the
BCDA wants “to have a deeper understanding of the project” through the
feasibility study. BCDA earlier said that the Japanese government, through its
Ministry of Economy, Transportation and Industry, has approved a grant for the
pre-feasibility study of the monorail project. Casanova said that Japanese
firms Oriental Consulting and Nomura Research are conducting the
pre-feasibility study.
The proposed 12.56-kilometer monorail
will start at the Guadalupe Station of the MRT and will enter Bonifacio Global
City via the north gate and end at NAIA 3 terminal building. Casanova said the
BCDA sees necessary studies for the project to be completed soon and the actual
project to be finished by 2016.
He also said that the BCDA expects
Japanese contractors to be interested in the project since the Japanese
government is funding the pre-feasibility study. However, Casanova said that
there is no commitment that only Japanese firms will be allowed to join the
bidding.
“Although I am quite sure that because
the Japanese government is funding it [pre-feasibility study], Japanese
companies will be interested, there is no commitment on our part that we will
limit it to the Japanese contractors because as a general rule it will always
be a public bidding process,” he said.
Casanova also said that BCDA hopes to
discuss its projects with newly appointed Transportation and Communications
Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya once he assumes office.
“We have the ongoing feasibility study
on the monorail and then, hopefully we will be able to discuss, when Secretary
Abaya assumes office in DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications],
how to move the Clark Airport Development and the Railway Development faster,
and how we could work together as a team to realize this necessary projects for
the country,” he said.
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