Economic boost seen from New Clark City
CAPAS, Tarlac: Work will start this year on three main components of the New Clark City project, which the Duterte government expects to spur investments and economic growth under its centerpiece “Build Build Build” infrastructure program.
“The New Clark City will bring in several hundred enterprises and billions in new investments,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said in a briefing prior to a media tour of the area along with other Cabinet members.
New Clark City — located within the Clark special economic zone spanning Angeles City in Pampanga and the towns of Capas and Bamban in Tarlac — is one of the 75 flagship projects under “Build Build Build”, which Dominguez said was moving forward due to a decision to prioritize the use of government funds, official development assistance, multilateral financing and hybrid public-private partnerships.
Construction is scheduled to start this year on three main structures — the P1.78-billion Clark Green City Government Center, P850-million Clark Commercial Center and the P3.33-billion Clark Mixed-Income Housing segment – given steady revenues from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Implementation (Train) law, implemented at the start of the year for the purpose of funding the infrastructure drive.
Dominguez noted that New Clark City, which will rise at a nexus of well-developed roads, will soon be connected to Manila by the second stage of the Philippine National Railway North Line and will be linked to the Subic Freeport by another high-speed rail line.
“The excellent logistics and the prospective rail link to Subic will make this area an ideal place to build manufacturing, especially food processing and other export industries,” he said, adding that the development will also be the country’s first “smart and green” metropolis.
New Clark City will also host the National Government Administrative Center where several state agencies will relocate. It will also house back-up facilities for the bureaucracy to ensure operational continuity in the event of a major calamity in Metro Manila.
World-class sports facilities will also be built within New Clark City in time for the country’s hosting of the Southeast Asian Games in November next year.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno rejected criticism that the transfer of government offices to the NGAC would complicate the bureacratic process, saying planned links would improve access to government services.
“It’s not the distance. It’s the travel time and the predictability of the journey,” he said, adding: “That’s why we are investing in the train [project]. Tutuban to Malolos to Clark.”
Dominguez said the development of the area was “part of a plan to decongest Metro Manila by interconnecting this part of the country and investing in new growth centers.”
The Finance chief expressed confidence that the economy would expand by 7 percent or better over the medium term due to the “Build Build Build” program, for which the government expects to spend up to P9 trillion up to 2022.
Dominguez said that in the first five months of 2018 alone, national government spending on infrastructure had reached P281 billion, up 42 percent compared to the same period last year. This was on top of private sector construction and public sector projects financed through public-private partnerships.
The government has averaged close to P56 billion a month in spending on “Build Build Build”, he claimed.
With 30 percent of this spending going to wages, moreover, about P17 billion has been infused into the economy per month in the form of additional income and purchasing power for workers, on top of the creation of around 100,000 new jobs so far.
“‘Build Build Build’ will drastically alter the Philippine economic landscape. It will create over a million jobs per year. It will bring our logistics backbone up to par in a region that is growing very dynamically,” Dominguez said.
Combined with other reforms such as the long-due modernization of the tax system and improvements in the ease of doing business, he said the government was looking at reducing poverty to 14 percent by 2022 from the 2015 level of 21.6 percent
“This will be the absolute measure of success of our strategy of inclusive growth. This is the goal that has been set for us by President [Rodrigo] Duterte, and this is how we are implementing it,” he said.
Also present during the site visit on Wednesday were Also present in the forum were Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Bases and Conversion Development Authority President Vivencio Dizon.
WITH A REPORT FROM ED VELASCO AND JERRY M. HERNANDEZ
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