The Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council (SCADC) has concluded its three-part consultative meetings with local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders with a forum held at the SBDMC Conference Hall in this free port recently.
SCADC chairman Edgardo Pamintuan, who led participants in discussing various concerns on the Subic-Clark growth corridor, said the consultations were aimed at updating stakeholders on the ongoing developments at the SCAD corridor, particularly on how LGU development plans were incorporated into the SCAD Corridor Conceptual Land Use Plan (SCoLUP).
In particular, SCADC officials and planners discussed various concerns in the development plan for the corridor, including environmental and ecological issues, waste management, the accessibility of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), as well as flood control and drainage systems.
Pamintuan, who is also the development champion for the Luzon Urban Beltway Super Region, said several development projects already in the pipeline are expected to have the greatest impact on the SCAD corridor.
These include the Tarlac-Zambales Tollway, Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Pampanga Circumferential Tollway, Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Pampanga-Bulacan Radial Road, and, possibly, the Zambales-Pampanga-Bulacan Coastal Viaduct, said Pamintuan.
He added that the final version of the conceptual land use plan for the 98,020-hectare SCAD corridor will be presented during the LGU Summit in July, which will also serve as the culminating activity for the series of stakeholder consultations.
In his speech during the Subic consultation, Pamintuan emphasized that President Arroyo’s multibillion-peso infrastructure development program has helped save the day for the Philippine economy by creating millions of jobs and opening more areas for investments.
As a result, “while the world economy is suffering from the impact of the global economic crisis — with the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore registering negative growth outlook, the Philippines still registered a 1 percent growth in the first quarter of this year,” Pamintuan added.
The SCADC executive also said that his agency’s concern has lately expanded from infrastructure projects to “programs that would result in more efficient production, multi-modal product delivery system, industrial and agricultural projects, and better tourism facilities.”
The SCADC is also concerned with education and manpower training, human development centers, human settlements and retirement villages, and green corridors, Pamintuan said.
“One of the features of the SCAD corridor framework is the production-oriented logistics corridor with three equidistant hubs,” Pamintuan explained, referring to Subic, with its sea ports as the sea hub; Clark, with the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport as the air hub; and Tarlac, with its vast agricultural and industrial areas as the land hub.
“Connecting these three hubs is the 94-kilometer SCTEx that would serve as the backbone in the transformation of the area into the SCAD Mega-Logistics Hub,” he said.
“This is where the role of the provinces of Bataan and Zambales come into play, as they are the LGUs which will greatly benefit from the developments within the corridor,” Pamintuan added.
SCADC held the first stakeholders forum in Clark on May 15, and followed it up with the Tarlac consultation on May 22. The Subic forum, which was the last leg in the series of meetings with stakeholders, will be followed by the LGU Summit next month. (SBMA Corporate Communications)
PHOTO: Sec. Edgardo Pamintuan explains the benefits of high-impact infrastructure development projects for the SCAD Growth Corridor during a stakeholders meeting in the Subic Bay Freeport.
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