BCDA sets aside initial P5B for Clark Green City

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has set aside an initial P5 billion of its funds for basic infrastructure and utilities within the 35,000-hectare Clark Green City in this freeport’s northern Sacobia reservation, even as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already started work on access roads to the site.

In an interview, BCDA president and chief executive officer Arnel Paciano Casanova said the P5 billion would come from his authority’s funds.

“We will provide the basics to make the site accessible to investors who then would do the rest. I expect the private sector to spend about P59 billion to put up needed infrastructure in the rest of the Clark Green City,” he said.

Casanova noted that the scheme for the project here would be similar to that implemented by BCDA at the Global City in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.

He stressed that no funds from the national government would be used for Clark Green City as BCDA has funds for the “initial” P5 billion for the basic infrastructure projects to be bid out to contractors anytime this third quarter. “We do not get funds from the government. We remit funds to the government,” he added.

Casanova said that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has started on roads to link the 35,000-hectare site for the Clark Green City, which is mostly within Tarlac province, to the main freeport here.

The first areas to be developed under Phase 1 of the Clark Green City will cover 1,300 hectares, amid plans to formally launch the project next year.

BCDA said Clark Green City “will be environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive, economically competitive, culturally relevant, and technologically integrated.”

“It will generate billions in investments and generate thousands of jobs” and “will also provide the catalyst for the economiof surrounding local government units,” BCDA said.

A master development plan identified five dedicated districts in the project, namely a government district; a central business district; an academic district; an agri-forestry research an development district; and wellness and eco-tourism district.

The BCDA signed recently a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of the Philippines for the establishment of a global campus for the premier state university in Clark Green City to serve as the anchor for the city’s “Brain Capital.”

Casanova said that when fully finished, the Clark Green City is estimated to contribute P1.57 trillion per year to the Philippine economy and will create 925,000 jobs.

He said the project, when completed, would cost a total of about P200 billion, with most of the funds provided by the private sector.

“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,” he added.