By Louella D. Desiderio (The
Philippine Star) | Updated November 2, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The Bases
Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is spending P120 million for a
master plan for the partial privatization of Camp Aguinaldo and other military
camps, a top official said.
BCDA president and chief executive
officer Arnel Paciano Casanova told reporters the agency has secured funding
worth P120 million for a master plan for the privatization of parts of the
approximately 150-hectare Camp Aguinaldo and other military camps.
“We are talking with the DND
(Department of National Defense) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for
that so we have allocated funding
already for the master planning activities,” he said.
The BCDA is helping the DND and AFP in
securing the survey and title for the lands as well as preparing the master
plan to be able to get the best utilization of the military camps.
“We need to look at all military camps
in the Philippines and based on the strategic national security plan of our
AFP, we need to see which camps are they going to retain, where we need to
invest infrastructure in the long-term and which ones are the camps they don’t
need anymore so we could utilize these camps into revenue-generating projects
that would also provide funding for the modernization,” Casanova said.
He said the state-run firm intends to
engage a master planner after it completes the terms of reference in the first
quarter of next year.
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The BCDA is mandated to transform
former military bases into alternative productive civilian use.
Under Executive Order 309, proceeds of
leases, joint ventures and all transactions other than sale entered into by the
BCDA involving parts of Metro Manila military camps shall be distributed
equally between the state-run corporation and the AFP.
The BCDA said since its creation in
1992 until mid-2013, it has generated P57.663 billion from the disposition of
former Metro Manila camps, with 40.72 percent (P23.48 billion) of the total
amount remitted to the National Treasury for the account of the AFP.
Even as the BCDA has already converted
some former camps for other uses, Casanova said the agency still has an
inventory of properties covering approximately 80 hectares in Metro Manila for
bidding.
Some of the properties however, have
pending cases in court.
The bidding for the 33.1-hectare
Bonifacio South Pointe in Taguig City, for instance, has been put to a halt
after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order in January
following a petition filed by SM Land Inc.
The 25-hectare Navy Officers Village
adjoining Bonifacio South also has a pending case in the Supreme Court.
“It has been pending with the Supreme Court for so many years and we have
filed I think, five motions for resolution already but they have not acted on
it yet...We are confident we are going to win it, in the same way we have won
the case in JUSMAG (Joint US Military Assistance Group) against the retired
generals,” Casanova said.
Meanwhile, he said the BCDA expects to
award the lease and development of the two-hectare Concepcion service area
along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the 5.2-hectare Pamayanang
Diego Silang (PDS) lot in Brgy. Usuan in Taguig City this month.
He said the BCDA is currently
evaluating the lone bid for the Concepcion service area and may award the
contract to the firm after the agency conducts its board meeting on Nov. 6.
The agency likewise expects to award
the contract to the winning bidder for the lease and development of the PDS
after the board meeting.
Casanova added that the BCDA intends
to re-bid the other two-hectare service area in the north-bound side of SCTEX
after it failed to get bids in the auction conducted in September.
He also said a team from the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to start the full
feasibility study for the proposed monorail project that will connect the
Guadalupe station of the Metro Rail Transit to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in
Taguig City and Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport this
month.
He noted though that the JICA wants to
expand the coverage of the project by connecting more business districts in
Metro Manila.
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