Why do we need a food hub at Clark’s aviation complex?
This may really sound absurd if not an untimely project. To a lot of people, the idea is downright off or even really unfathomable.
When one hears of aviation complex, the natural recourse of the mind is to think of airplanes and passengers. In the case of Clark International Airport (airport code: CRK), what may come to our thoughts are flights and its beauteous airport. Yes, it has been recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful airports.
But aviation complex would include more than buildings where aircraft would land, park and depart. It is more than ramps, runways and taxiways too. It is also more than arriving and departing passengers who must go through ICQ processing (immigration, customs and quarantine).
I fancy not myself as an airport or aviation expert. Far from being one. Although I have seen some of the world’s best and busiest airports – Incheon in South Korea, Changi in Singapore, San Francisco in northern California, Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia in New York/New Jersey, Dulles and Reagan in Washington DC area, Tom Bradley in Los Angeles, Pearson in Toronto, Heathrow in London, a few others in Europe and the Middle East.
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At Clark’s aviation complex, the Clark National Food Hub (CNFH) is being pursued by Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), the state firm tasked to manage the area. The P8.5-billion 62-hectare CNFH would replicate state-of-the-art agro-logistics system of food hubs in advanced Asian countries. This will also raise the standards of food safety and provide better opportunities for the local farmers, fisherfolk, and growers.
The CNFH is within the 1,608-hectare being managed by CIAC. It is not inside the 900-hectare property that was assigned to LIPAD for the operation and management of CRK. While LIPAD is now tasked to bring in the flights to Clark, CIAC still has the mandate to pursue the government’s conversion program for the former US military airbase. And that is to transform it into productive civilian aviation complex.
This transformation is now being realized. LIPAD, with former CDC top honcho Noel Manankil at the helm, is doing well in creating inbound/outbound flights to many destinations and routes. In fact, with only few years operating CRK, it has exceeded expectations and is about to meet the pre-pandemic numbers in terms of passenger arrivals which have been achieved only after a decade or so when government was still operating CRK.
CIAC is not only tasked to help ensure the success of CRK. It is doing its part in creating economic opportunities such as formulating flagship programs for the aviation complex. One of them is the CNFH.
All these undertakings are also part of creating a so-called Airport City which is similar to what have been established in and around the highly successful best airports like Changi and Incheon.
An Airport City would, of course, be anchored on an active premier gateway. It would be complemented by enterprises in logistics, commercial, and even leisure such as hotels, restaurants and other tourism facilities. Clark fits such a bill and mold, especially this vision of a food hub where the place would bring in agricultural products from all over the Philippines, Asia and the world.
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An Airport City like the one to be built around CRK will also be known as an aerotropolis as discussed by Professor John Kasarda of University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. This concept has been in the works for Clark since the time of Dr. Emmanuel Angeles as CDC President in mid 2000s.
Concept no longer it is as it is finally coming to fruition. The House of Representatives recently approved on first reading a bill that will establish the CNFH with P3-billion seed fund. This manifests government support to this undertaking. No less than former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cited the need to pursue the project, recalling the time how she envisioned Clark to become a logistics hub during her time in Malacanang. In the House committee hearings, she also had kind words for CIAC president Arrey Perez whom she heard is “very good at promoting investments”
Aside from the lower house, the Asian Development Bank and the Public-Private Partnership Center had also thrown support to it.
The ADB would serve as technical and transactional adviser for the planned CNFH. They have signed a tripartite MOA that will also pave the way for a feasibility study and the Terms of Reference for Public Bidding.
Perez also announced that the Maharlika Investment Corporation has also committed to infuse funding anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of the project.
The Departments of Trade and Industry, as well as Agriculture, are also fully supporting the food hub project.
Early this year, the CIAC secured the nod from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for the project’s inclusion in the Public Investment Program for 2023 to 2028. The CNFH is being patterned after the success of renowned food hubs like the Rungis İnternational Food Market in France.
Take a bow there CIAC.