GMA says ‘no’ to Clark trade hub
Business district to affect DMIA dev’t into top int’l airport
By FRED ROXAS - Manila Bulletin
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – President Arroyo has disapproved a controversial plan for the establishment of a Central Business District (CBD) near the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).
"They won’t get it," President Arroyo told top officials of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), referring to the 300-hectare DMIA property which Clark Development Corp. (CDC) intends to use for its CBD project.
The President made the remarks during last Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting in Malacañang.
CIAC officials led by its chairman Nestor Mangio, president Victor Jose Luciano and executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran were in Malacañang to brief Cabinet members on DMIA’s development into the country’s next main international gateway and as an anchor of the President’s vision of competitive regional services and logistics hub for the Clark and Subic Freeport zones.
The proposed location of the controversial CBD in Clark ecozone is a 300-hectare area known as Industrial Estate 5 (IE5) which is adjacent to DMIA’s twin runways.
Through Resolution No. 98-07-67 approved in July 1998, the Bases Conversion Development Authority set aside some 2,500 hectares as CIAC’s territory covering a "contiguous area in the main zone" of Clark ecozone, including the IE5 site.
Earlier, local leaders led by Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo ‘Tarzan’ Lazatin expressed apprehension over the planned CBD, saying this may adversely affect DMIA’s position as the country’s premier international airport.
Former CDC president Emmanuel Y. Angeles and Ruperto Cruz of the Angeles City-based civic group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement have also written the President to inform her of their opposition to the construction of CBD near Clark airport.
Similar observations were also made by Seretary Romulo Neri, the erstwhile director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) who warned that "DMIA could lose its chances of becoming the country’s premier international gateway if it repeats the mistakes of NAIA in allowing residential and commercial interests to eat into and encroach on its area."
The presence of high rise structures near DMIA’s runways will downgrade its international rating that would enable it to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft.
During a meeting of the Metro Clark Advisory Council (MCAC), CDC president Levy Laus described the CBD projects as "something that would fit a regional CBD, a combination of malls, high-rise hotels with casinos and financial centers."
By FRED ROXAS - Manila Bulletin
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – President Arroyo has disapproved a controversial plan for the establishment of a Central Business District (CBD) near the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).
"They won’t get it," President Arroyo told top officials of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), referring to the 300-hectare DMIA property which Clark Development Corp. (CDC) intends to use for its CBD project.
The President made the remarks during last Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting in Malacañang.
CIAC officials led by its chairman Nestor Mangio, president Victor Jose Luciano and executive vice president Alexander Cauguiran were in Malacañang to brief Cabinet members on DMIA’s development into the country’s next main international gateway and as an anchor of the President’s vision of competitive regional services and logistics hub for the Clark and Subic Freeport zones.
The proposed location of the controversial CBD in Clark ecozone is a 300-hectare area known as Industrial Estate 5 (IE5) which is adjacent to DMIA’s twin runways.
Through Resolution No. 98-07-67 approved in July 1998, the Bases Conversion Development Authority set aside some 2,500 hectares as CIAC’s territory covering a "contiguous area in the main zone" of Clark ecozone, including the IE5 site.
Earlier, local leaders led by Pampanga 1st district Rep. Carmelo ‘Tarzan’ Lazatin expressed apprehension over the planned CBD, saying this may adversely affect DMIA’s position as the country’s premier international airport.
Former CDC president Emmanuel Y. Angeles and Ruperto Cruz of the Angeles City-based civic group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement have also written the President to inform her of their opposition to the construction of CBD near Clark airport.
Similar observations were also made by Seretary Romulo Neri, the erstwhile director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) who warned that "DMIA could lose its chances of becoming the country’s premier international gateway if it repeats the mistakes of NAIA in allowing residential and commercial interests to eat into and encroach on its area."
The presence of high rise structures near DMIA’s runways will downgrade its international rating that would enable it to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft.
During a meeting of the Metro Clark Advisory Council (MCAC), CDC president Levy Laus described the CBD projects as "something that would fit a regional CBD, a combination of malls, high-rise hotels with casinos and financial centers."
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