In an interview with Global Platform, Dennis Uy, President and CEO, Udenna Group of Companies; and Vincent Dizon, President, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) speak to the benefits and aspirations of Clark Global City, the Philippines newest economic and investment hub.
Uy: The government's plan is to move the centre of the economy from Manila to Clark.
Dizon: The vision for Clark is to really show the modern Philippines, the Philippines that is about to arrive, and we envision Clark to be an economic and investment hub in Asia. We're spending so much effort modelling it after the best economic hubs in Asia, the likes of Incheon in South Korea, Yokohama in Japan, Singapore, Shenzhen and Guangzhou in China.
That we can even leapfrog the city's density in Metro Manila, which is one of the highest in the world. We need to provide an alternative city; this is why we want to plan it well, develop it well, so that we can attract businesses, people, workers, government workers to move to Clark as an alternative.
Uy: Location is the key. Clark Global City has the best location: it is in the freeport zone, it is right directly near the airport, and 100 km from Subic Freeport. It is the best location in Luzon for logistics, shipping and business process outsourcing.
People or companies can even put their headquarters in Clark because of the numerous tax incentives and it being in a freeport zone. It will be a master-planned community, free of congestion, traffic, flooding and other inconveniences experienced in many of the current urban centres.
Its proximity to the international airport in Subic Freeport makes it an ideal logistics and business hub. The airport in Clark has the longest runway with a capacity of at least 8m passengers. It will decongest the Manila Airport and put Clark as a centre of North Luzon.
Domestic industry is growing. We see opportunities not only in the country, but in the ASEAN region as well. With ASEAN integration, there are lots of opportunities to grow the size [of the] population and the markets, especially in the fields that we are in: petroleum, logistics, shipping and in the new field that we entered through our subsidiary, United Development Corporation. We bought Clark Global City, a new centre for business.
There are lots of manufacturing companies already located in Clark, so it is not difficult for people or for businesses to locate to Clark, looking at the advantages that it has.
Dizon: Clark has a very strong pedigree for making it easy for businesses to thrive and to operate: the high-speed broadband infrastructure that we're doing with Facebook is expected to be on-line towards the second half of 2019. Infrastructure is critical for any development, and I think one of the cornerstones of President [Rodrigo] Duterte's programme to uplift the lives of all Filipinos is the Build, Build, Build programme.
We have grown over 6% for several years now despite not having the kind of infrastructure that a modern economy needs, and this is the priority of President Duterte and his government.
The plan is to spend upwards of about $160bn in the next six years, from 2017 to 2022. There are several infrastructure projects: the Clark International Airport expansion is one critical piece of this huge plan to develop public infrastructure. The capacity of the airport here in Manila is 30m passengers per year, but right now we're already doing more than 40m per year. That just gives you an idea of the overcapacity that we're experiencing, and the congestion we're experiencing.
The development of Clark International Airport is not just going to help develop Clark as a major investment hub of Asia, but it's going to help the entire country. Our estimate is in the next three years you're talking upwards of about $4bn in infrastructure that's going to go into this region.
Uy: We take inspiration from the great cities of the world like Incheon, Chicago, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong. We take the best of these to make Clark Global City the new centre for business, not only in the Philippines, but in the ASEAN region as well.
