Gov’t prioritizes development of New Clark City asset – DOF

In line with its mandate to grow government assets, the Department of Finance (DOF) said that it has prioritized the development of New Clark City.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that the New Clark City – with an estimated total value of around $14 billion – is a priority, adding that the government has committed an additional investment of P12 billion for its development.

“It’s obvious, our priority—and we have put money in it—is the Clark Airport and the New Clark City Development. We have invested money, we started the project. We also want to have a better air service for the Metro Manila area. The [New Clark City] value is $14 billion, that’s the estimate of the asset value, so my job is to see [to it that] it increase, not decrease. Why should I put a nuclear plant there? It [the value] will go down. Those are the decisions we have to make,” said Dominguez.

Business for Bulacan?

Meanwhile, the DOF has clarified that they are not the cause of delay for the Bulacan International Airport Project, and were in fact even providing assistance to accelerate its approval. Dominguez clarified at the second Senate hearing on the August 16 Xiamen Airways airport fiasco that they have provided several recommendations, like the execution of a joint and several liability agreements.

The Finance Chief explained in a National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board meeting last January that three issues were raised by the board in line with this project:

• How will the project affect the Clark International Airport, given the government’s investments in Clark?
• How will the Bulacan International Airport affect traffic in the area? Do we need additional lanes in the North Luzon Expressway to be constructed?
• Do we need to change the alignment of the proposed rail system to Clark? Who is the proponent for this, and what is its actual financial capability?

“Your honors, all airport projects are real-estate projects. The real-estate value of the New Clark City is currently $14 billion and government has committed an additional P12 billion. We wanted to know how the Bulacan airport, which is just 65 kilometers away from Clark, will affect the value of the New Clark City, which is by the way, the property of the Filipino people,” said Dominguez.

Dominguez added that the government recognizes the need to accelerate the approval and implementation of airport proposals, to prevent the recurrence of incidents similar to the Xiamen Air mishap last August which caused suffering from tourists and Filipino citizens alike.

via Business Mirror / Rea Cu