Finance Sec dubs New Clark City as next PHL metropolis

NEW CLARK CITY is the next big thing. Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that the speedy development of the New Clark City in Pampanga will transform the place into the country’s next leading metropolis, and in effect decongest the highly populated urban center of Metro Manila.

In his opening remarks at the Philippine Economic Briefing at the ASEAN Convention Center, Dominguez said the project includes the construction of a railway system that will run to and from Subic and Manila, as well as the expansion of the Clark International Airport.

A world-class terminal building will be built in the airport complex so as to accommodate approximately eight million passengers per year and to reduce the congestion in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. The expansion project started last December.

“This, truly, is where the future begins. We envision this [New Clark City] as the hub of agro-industrial activities as well as the home for cutting-edge technology companies. Clark, in the near future, will be the growth driver for Luzon,” Dominguez said in his speech.

The development of New Clark City is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build Build Build” program, an aggressive infrastructure project that is expected to attract investments and create jobs.

“The infrastructure program will stimulate rapid economic growth. By 2022, we expect to dramatically bring down poverty incidence in our economy from 21.6 percent to only 14 percent as we transform our economic development to make it more inclusive,” Dominguez said.

via DoF