CLARK FREEPORT— The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) is set to embark on a new Master Development Plan (MDP) in order to usher in a new business landscape inside the Freeport, one of the country's top economic sites.
The new master plan was conceived as several lease contracts of pioneer locators signed during the formative years of CDC are set to expire in the next few years.
The MDP will also complement President Duterte’s infrastructure development thrust for Central Luzon.
CDC President and Chief Executive Officer Noel F. Manankil said that since the inception of state-run firm in 1993, many of CDC’s 25-year contracts or lease agreements with locators will expire by 2018 and the succeeding years.
In anticipation of this, CDC is preparing the new MDP to make the main Freeport “more marketable, effective, and viable” in harmony with current and planned developments, including the Clark International Airport and Clark Green City development.
“The new MDP aims to optimize the development potentials of Clark without compromising the economic, environmental and social integrity of the Main (Freeport) Zone with the surrounding areas,” the project rationale stated.
The new MDP would also incorporate a relevant business plan that "will leverage on the potentials of Clark to incorporate environment friendly, smart and resilient ‘green initiatives’ and fortify the Freeport's status as a modern industrial estate and premier service and logistics hub in the region", according to Manankil.
It will provide a fresh take on the most strategic approach for further development of the Freeport zone in accordance with the government’s new mantra “Build, Build, Build” whose goal is to usher the Golden Age of Infrastructure in the Philippines, he added.
The MDP will also include a total integrated master plan for the Subic-Clark Corridor (CFZ, Clark Civil Aviation complex, Clark Special Economic Zone, and Clark Green City), the proposed North Luzon Railways project, Manila-Clark airport Express Railway, and the 60-kilometer railway that will connect Clark and Subic.