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ON Good Friday, I drove through the new Clark-Subic Expressway built
reportedly at a cost of P27 billion. The length is not 50 kms as
reports indicate. It is more like 65 kms. on my odometer. It is not
a 30-minute. drive but more likely 40 kms, unless you are running at
more than 100 kms an hour, which will subject you to speeding
violation.
And those people managing the North tollways can
be quite firm and sadistic. It takes three days to retrieve your
license. You are caught in Bulacan or Pampanga and you get your
license in Pasig. Isn’t there a better way to punish speeding
drivers? Is a private company allowed to get your license? Doesn’t
the Supreme Court prohibit that? Isn’t the issuance of a traffic
violation receipt enough? Why deny a driver a license for three days
for testing to the hilt a highway designed for high speed driving?
The Clark Subic Expressway must be our best
highway in the Philippines. Four lanes and more than 50 kms of first
class road passing through among the most beautiful scenery in the
countryside. But motorists pay a fortune using it. They pay four
times—first at the Bulacan toll gate, second at the Dau (Pampanga)
toll gate, third at the new Clark-Subic toll gate, and fourth at the
Subic toll gate itself (for passing through Subic going to Zambales).
If you ask me, paying toll four times in one drive is a very
inefficient way of managing or using a highway. It is a waste of
time and defeats the purpose of an expressway. If you spend five
minutes paying at each toll, that’s 20 minutes of time wasted.
Completion of the Clark Subic Expressway links
what were once the two largest and most strategic military bases of
the United States outside its mainland. It is a necessary fillip
that dramatizes the near complete transformation of Clark and Subic
into the region’s best services and logistics center and aviation
hub, not to mention as a mecca for high technology industries.
According to the Clark Development Corp.
website, the Clark Master Plan focuses on the development of the
following:
1. Clark Airport. The centerpiece is the
Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) with an expansion
calling for a third runway and an international gateway terminal in
anticipation of its development as the country’s premier
international airport. A 2,500-ha. aviation complex will be built
capable of handling up to 20 million passengers a year. This is an
ambitious goal. Last year, there were only 800,000 arrivals at DMIA.
2. Logistics Center. The national government’s
thrust is develop Clark and Subic as the best international service
and logistics center in Southeast Asia to enhance synergy between
airport and industrial development as raw goods and finished
products are efficiently transferred through the supply chain.
3. Industry. High-end manufacturing will bring
highest returns in terms of investment, employment and exports.
4. Tourism. Tourism development capitalizes on
the domestic and foreign tourists coming through DMIA. Clark shall
also in time develop into a tourist destination in its own right
with the anticipated entry of world-class tourism investments.
5. Agro Industries. The Clark Special
Economic Zone with its expanse and rolling terrain is ideal for
agro-industrial development (agriculture and food processing) and
eco-tourism development where participation of the local indigenous
people is possible.
CDC plans to develop a 4,400-hectare main zone
and 27,600-hectare subzone around an aviation-driven urban center
suitable for high-end IT-enabled industries, airport and
logistics-related enterprises, tourism and agro-industries.
CDC has a new president and CEO, Levy Laus, 58,
a former banker, one of Central Luzon’s most successful
businessmen and a self-made multimillionaire. He built the Laus
Group of (23) companies. He carries seven car brands (Mitsubishi,
Ford, Kia, Chevrolet, Hyundai, BMW and Suzuki). His combined sales
account for six percent of total vehicle sales of the industry. He
is also into car parts, car service centers, tires, finance,
insurance, real estate and media. As a conglomerate, Laus is one of
the 300 largest enterprises in the Philippines.
After a series of controversial CEOs, CDC
finally has got the right man for the job.
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