Plans afoot to move some government offices to Clark

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga - President Arroyo has approved plans to decongest Metro Manila by moving out some national government offices, starting with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), to the Clark special economic zone.

Douglas Yballe, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) vice president for operations, said he met with officials of the Presidential Flagship Projects Committee, headed by former Cebu Gov. Lito Osmeña, at Malacanang recently to tackle plans for the development of a 5,000-hectare "complete city" at Clark’s 29,000-hectare Sacobia sub-zone at the northern border of the 4,500-hectare ecozone.

The national offices of the DPWH and the DOTC would be moved to the new city which would also accommodate housing and other community facilities such as hospitals and schools for employees who might want to move to Clark to be near their offices, Yballe said.

"It’s a very welcome project to support the plans of President Arroyo to decongest Metro Manila," said CDC president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Angeles.

Yballe said Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) general manager Winston Garcia was among those who met with Osmeña regarding the GSIS plan to invest some P21 billion in the project.

"The idea is for private and other investors such as the GSIS to spend for the infrastructure, buildings and other needs of the ‘complete city’ in exchange for being entitled to free use of land near the project (site) for a certain period," Yballe said.

"The city plan is similar to what was done in Malaysia where the private sector developed public infrastructure in exchange for (use of adjoining) land where they could also invest for their own profit. In the case of Clark, the developers of the proposed city would be given the right to nearby land for 50 or even 75 years," Angeles said.

Yballe said the groundwork for the proposed city is expected to start this July.

Sometime before the 1992 presidential elections, Osmeña, who earlier had planned to run for president but ended up being the running mate of former President Fidel Ramos, told local newsmen that if he were to become president, he would change the Philippine capital from Manila to Clark Field to spur development of the countryside and decongest Metro Manila.