'Fast-track 17 projects in Luzon Urban Beltway'

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga , Philippines  – President Arroyo has ordered agencies to fast-track the implementation of the remaining 17 priority projects in the Luzon Urban Beltway (LUB) costing P140 billion to make the region an “investment haven.”

Mrs. Arroyo issued the order during the full Cabinet meeting here the other day where she ordered the LUB to be “a seamless priority infrastructure project.”

During the meeting, Secretary Eduardo Pamintuan, who is LUB super region champion and chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development, briefed the Cabinet on the developments in the region.

Mrs. Arroyo said, “Seamless means joining south Luzon as far as Batangas to northern Luzon with a series of world-class road systems through the STAR Tollway system linked with the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the C-5 road and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).”

She instructed the Cabinet to make the LUB an “investment-friendly hub” as the region contributes at least 55 percent to the Gross Domestic Product and is considered the prime industrial and financial region of the country.

Pamintuan told reporters that 13 out of the 38 priority projects in the LUB worth P39 billion have been completed.

Projects worth some P140 billion are targeted for completion by 2010. Funding came from various sources, including the national government, local governments, government-owned and controlled corporations and foreign assistance.

Among the completed projects are the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, the Subic Bay Port, the STAR Tollway, and the Batangas and Marinduque ports.

The LUB projects cost a total of P180 billion.