The development of New Clark City in Tarlac province will transform it into the country’s next big metropolis and decongest Metro Manila’s highly-populated urban centers, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend.
Dominguez said during the Luzon leg of the Philippine Economic Briefing at the Asean Convention Center in Clark Freeport Zone the New Clark City was envisioned to be a hub of agro-industrial activities, home to cutting-edge technology and logistics companies and host to well-equipped backup government centers and world-class sports facilities.
“It captures what the ‘Build Build Build’ program aspires to achieve: a coherent national logistics circuit that will support our country’s rapid and inclusive development,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez described New Clark City as the “showcase of the Duterte administration’s economic strategy.”
He said the development of New Clark City would be supported by the construction of railways going to Subic and to Manila and the expansion of the Clark International Airport, which would get a new world-class terminal building to accommodate a projected eight million passengers a year to help relieve the congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City.
The expansion project for the Clark airport broke ground in December.
“This, truly, is where the future begins. We envision this as the hub of agro-industrial activities as well as the home for cutting-edge technology companies. Clark, in the near future, will be the growth driver for Luzon,” Dominguez said.
Other members of the Cabinet who attended the PEB to discuss the Duterte administration’s economic strategy to sustain the Philippines’ robust growth and make this inclusive were Secretaries Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority, Arthur Tugade of the Department of Transportation, Mark Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr.
Dominguez said President Duterte’s economic strategy aimed to grow the economy by 7 percent or better in the medium term by embarking on an ambitious infrastructure program dubbed the ‘Build, Build, Build’ consisting of 75 flagship projects, of which 23 completed the approvals process and were ready to begin implementation.
He said the program would not be possible without the fiscal space created by many years of disciplined management of the government’s revenues and expenditures and the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law which would complement existing budgetary resources to hasten the infra buildup. Julito G. Rada
Under the Train law, 70 percent of all incremental revenues would be used to fund the infrastructure program, while 30 percent would be used to expand social services and harness the country’s human resources through education, health and skills-training programs.
Dominguez said the expanded inflow of official development assistance from the Philippines’ allies in the region, the strong financing support from multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as well as bonds floated to take advantage of the country’s investment-grade credit ratings allowed the government to veer away from the traditional ‘Public-Private Partnership’ model and focus more on ‘hybrid’ forms of financing for high-impact projects.