SBMA readies site for $1-B shipbuilding facility

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Some 196 families from Barangay Cawag in Subic town have received compensation from a South Korean company, which is building a $1-billion shipbuilding facility, touted to be the biggest in the country once completed, on their land.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) administrator and chief operating officer Armand Arreza led the distribution of checks to the residents of Sitio Agusuhin, where the shipbuilding facility of Hanjin Shipping and Industrial Co. Ltd. will be constructed.

Assisting Arreza were Zambales Gov. Vicente Magsaysay, Subic Mayor Jeffrey Khonghun, SBMA director JV Magsaysay, Zambales first district board member Jay Khonghun and other SBMA and local officials.

Aside from the payment for the improvements they had made on the land, Arreza said the residents will be given their own permanent lots near the site of the shipbuilding facility in the Redondo peninsula.

"We made it part of the agreement between SBMA and Hanjin that the company will pay the residents just compensation for their houses, lot and farm improvements, and give them a better and permanent site for their relocation," he added.

Under the project’s timetable, residential houses and other structures and vegetation inside the 50-hectare project site should be cleared and leveled before the construction materials arrive next month.

According to Magsaysay, the project’s economic impact will immediately be felt because of the huge number of jobs that it will generate.

"It will open not less than 20,000 jobs during the construction (phase), and will need more than 7,000 welders and painters during actual operation. One able member of each family will be given the chance to secure a job here," Magsaysay told The STAR.

He said the construction of another port in Subic town under a joint venture between the provincial government and SBMA is underway.

Meanwhile, the affected residents, who belong to the Agusuhin Neighborhood Association (ANA), assured Zambales and SBMA officials of their full support for the Hanjin project, saying that it will benefit not only them, but the entire country as well.

"The compensation I received is short of my expectation, but more importantly, we will reap benefits on the national level that should come first before our personal interests," said ANA president Lafacita Nebres.

Subic Mayor Jeffrey Khonghun, meanwhile, lauded Arreza, Magsaysay, SBMA Chairman Feliciano Salonga and President Arroyo for their efforts on the Hanjin project.

He said the shipbuilding project would attract more investors in heavy and medium industries and further develop the area.

Khonghun said such projects would boost their efforts to transform Subic town into a component city.