By Othel V. Campos | Jun. 04, 2014 at
12:01am [ manilastandardtoday.com ]
State-owned Bases Conversion and
Development Authority said Tuesday it will offer an initial 1,300 hectares in
the proposed Clark Green City project to foreign and local investors by the
third quarter.
“We are now preparing the terms of
reference and once finalized, we hope to start the process for the first phase
by the third quarter,” BCDA president and chief executive Arnel Paciano
Casanova said.
He said the National Economic and
Development Authority board chaired by President Benigno Aquino III approved
the master development plan and the start of the first phase of the Clark Green
City last week. The whole project will
cover 9,450 hectares.
Casanova said BCDA would subdivide the
first phase of the project into several parcels, where investors would include
real estate developers, industrial park builders, township builders and
institutional developers.
He said Clark Green City would provide
opportunity for a 100-percent foreign-owned company to invest in urban
development in the Philippines, as the entire area is a special economic zone.
Casanova said the Clark Green City
project was expected to accelerate the inflow of foreign direct investments in
the Philippines.
He said the agency expected some P59
billion worth of investments for the development of the first phase of the
project.
“We have been given the green light to
plant the seeds of growth and development for the future generation. This is
the first time the Philippines is building a new city from the ground up. Clark
Green City will serve as the urban core of the Central Luzon metropolis,”
Casanova said.
He said Clark Green City would play a
crucial role in enhancing the country’s competitiveness, especially once the
economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was implemented.
“It will open up the region to global
trade and investments owing to the world-class infrastructure that is already
within reach like the Clark International Airport, the Subic Bay Seaport and
the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway,” he said.
Casanova said Clark Green City would
be the country’s first green and smart metropolis.
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