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CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: Clark authorities have opened more than
10,000 hectares of the Clark Sub-zone as the next frontier for
investors here.
Bernardo Angeles, Jr., asistant vice preisdent
of the Business Development Group of Clark Development Corp (CDC),
over the weekend said they have started preparing the master plan
for the development of 10,684 hectares of the 27,000-hectare Clark
Sub-zone.
The Clark Sub-zone is more than twice the size
of the main 4,400-hectare Clark Freeport.
Angeles noted that there is a strong demand for
land from both local and foreign businesses that plan on investing
inside the Clark Freeport.
He said the CDC “wants to put premium in the
pricing of land” inside the freeport.
CDC President Levy Laus, during his speech at
the CDC’s recent 15th anniversary, described the Clark Sub-zone as
a “new frontier” for investors eyeing the former United States
military installation for their business operations.
“Clark has opened the new frontier with the
conclusion of a Joint Management Agreement between CDC and the Aeta
tribes, validated by the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples.
This agreement has freed 10,684 hectares for development with the
Aeta tribes receiving a generous share from the lease proceeds,”
Laus said in his speech. The Aetas are an indigenous group in
Pampanga province.
Wilfredo Rivera, senior vice president of
Asialuxe Philippines, agreed. Asialuxe recently signed a lease
agreement for its $1.6-million expansion project here.
Rivera said “there is money in circulation,”
also noting that Chinese investors “are scouting for areas
“where to put their money.”
He added that with the development of more lands
in Clark, the CDC will be able to entice more local and foreign
businesses to locate at the Clark Freeport and the sub-zone.
The Clark Sub-zone is also known as the Clark
Special Economic Zone, which is under the jurisdiction of the
Philippine Export Processing Zone.
Under the agreement, the CDC will receive 80
percent of the net income generated from the rentals of the Aetas’
“ancestral domain” and the Aetas, 20 percent.
-- Mark Louie P. Roxas
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