House bill establishing Advanced Industries Zone in New Clark City pushed

MANILA — A House bill seeking to establish the Advanced Industries Zone in New Clark City is being pushed at the lower chamber amid the proposed Pax Silica project.

House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno, who chairs the National Unity Party, and five other House members from the NUP filed on Monday House Bill 11758, which establishes the Advanced Industries Zone, “to be administered by the Authority as the national platform for strategic technology, advanced manufacturing, scientific research, innovation, and national economic security”.

Under the proposed measure, the zone shall be developed, “as much as possible, into a decentralized, self-reliant and self-sustaining industrial zone, with minimum government intervention”. The zone shall provide transportation, telecommunications, and other facilities needed to generate linkage with industries and employment opportunities for its own inhabitants and those of nearby towns and cities. Puno said the zone is expected to provide a minimum of 150,000 job opportunities.

The bill requires minimum investment capital of at least P15 billion from each locator in the zone, exclusive of the land value.

“The legislation we’re going to propose will take advantage of this Pax Silica declaration, and make the Philippines an active participant, so that our national growth and prosperity can be provided for,” Puno said.

He allayed concerns regarding the water and energy demand of the proposed hub.

“This has been mentioned by some people, makukuha ‘yung from whatever existing power structures that are there. That is not going to happen. This will have a completely new set of energy sources, power providers and so on. It will have its own water system… It will be a self-contained area that we are going to look at and we are going to develop. So the people in the surrounding areas… need not fear about a deprivation of either power or water for themselves,” Puno said.

“It’s not going to be a cloud base,” he added.

House Bill 11758 creates the Advanced Industries Development Authority, which will have authority to register locators and certify qualified enterprises, to develop, operate and maintain infrastructure and utilities within the zone, to lease, sub-lease, and administer land and improvements within the zone, to fix, impose, and collect fees, rentals, and charges for services and facilities, to enter into contracts, incur obligations, and acquire and dispose of property in the exercise of its corporate powers, to issue all building, occupancy, and related permits, to exercise exclusive control and jurisdiction over the issuance, enforcement, and monitoring of environmental compliance certificates, tree-cutting permits, and water permits for sources within the Zone. The Board shall be composed of 11 governors, and chaired by a person appointed by the President.