New Clark City ‘very attractive’ investment hub

New Clark City covers over 9,450 hectares of land, envisioned to be the country’s first smart, green, and resilient metropolis. (File Photo By jopetsy from Metro Manila, Philippines – CAPAS, TARLAC | MAY 2018, CC BY 2.0)

CAPAS, Tarlac – Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick Go said New Clark City, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority’s flagship project, is a “very attractive” investment hub for certain sectors.

New Clark City covers over 9,450 hectares of land, envisioned to be the country’s first smart, green, and resilient metropolis.

“(M)y personal favorite, New Clark City, which we really think will be very attractive to the industrial investments, most particularly in the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries,” Go said at the recent One Clark Forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in this town, last May 10.

Go is optimistic that the CREATE MORE bill, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy, will help attract more locators to New Clark City.

“We are committed to shepherding CREATE MORE until it becomes a law. CREATE MORE will continue to encourage potential investors, particularly in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries to locate and bring more jobs to Clark,” he added.

Filinvest Land, Inc. is developing the Filinvest Innovation Park, a 288-hectare master-planned community inside New Clark City.

Its first locator is St. Battalion Giga Factory Inc., one of the business deals bagged by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his business mission in Australia last March.

BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Joshua Bingcang echoed that New Clark City is Go’s “default choice by him whenever he meets potential investors abroad”.

Aside from the Filinvest Innovation Park, upcoming developments in New Clark City include the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 31-hectare BSP Complex, where it is transferring its minting activity from Quezon City; the five-hectare Virology Institute of the Philippines; public schools and universities such like the University of the Philippines New Clark City satellite campus and the Philippine Science High School Infinitum campus; and a luxury resort by Hann Reserve.

The National Academy of Sports already started its classes in New Clark City.

Aside from the CREATE MORE bill, Bingcang is also hopeful that the amendments to the BCDA Charter will be signed by Marcos before his State of the Nation Address on July 24.

Through Senate Bill 2647, BCDA seeks to extend its corporate life for another 50 years, to convert 5 percent of BCDA’s properties to freehold status from leasehold, and increase BCDA’s authorized capital to PHP200 billion from PHP100 billion.