MANILA -- The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte to “finish quickly” the construction of New Clark City, which is envisioned to be the country’s first smart, green, and resilient metropolis located in Central Luzon.
In a statement Monday, BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Vivencio Dizon said Duterte considers it a “legacy project” and the government should “have to finish it quickly.” Dizon said he met with President Duterte early this month to present the construction progress in the 9,450-hectare New Clark City.
“The planned developments in Clark will not only happen very soon; they are already happening as we speak,” Dizon said.
Last January 23, the BCDA and its private sector partner, MTD Capital Berhad of Malaysia, started the construction of the PHP121.8-billion National Government Administrative Center (NGAC) within the New Clark City. It is intended to house satellite government offices, major administrative offices of the executive departments, and even an extension office of Malacañang Palace, as well as embassies, housing for government employees, public schools, international schools, sports facilities, government hospital, a public library, and a central communications and security command center.
According to AlloyMTD Philippines Chairman Isaac David, the company will field additional construction equipment by the end of this month to accelerate the construction of the NGAC, and to deliver on-time the Phase 1-A of the government center by the fourth quarter of 2019. “To achieve this, we mobilized four times the number of construction equipment normally needed. As of today, we have 101 different types of equipment on the project site and will increase to 150 by end of the month,” said David.
“This is on top of the precast technology we are using which means some parts of the buildings are being done in factories and will be joined together at the project site,” he added. AlloyMTD Philippines is the local arm of MTD Capital Berhad’s infrastructure unit AlloyMTD.
The NGAC will be a 220-hectare land development within the new well-planned metropolis.
Prior to the NGAC, Filinvest Land, Inc. won the contract to develop the 288 hectares of land in the New Clark City to build commercial centers akin to the Bonifacio Global City, which is also a land development project of the BCDA.
During the Philippine Economic Briefing at the Clark Freeport Zone last April 13, Dizon announced that the construction of the access roads to New Clark City from major points such as the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and Clark International Airport will soon be underway.
In an interview, Dizon said the BCDA will be awarding the contract for the SCTEX access road this week, while it will be bidding out the contract for the Clark airport-New Clark City road. (PNA)
