Space center to rise in New Clark City

MANILA, Philippines —   The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has signed a lease contract with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) for the agency’s headquarters to be put up in New Clark City.

Speaking at the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines’ Subic-Clark Business Conference, BCDA executive vice president Gisela Kalalo said the state-run firm signed the lease contract with PhilSA last Thursday.

“According to PhilSA, Putting up their office and research facility in Clark is the country’s best foot forward in the space economy. And they will establish one of Southeast Asia’s most modern space centers,” Kalalo said.

BCDA president and CEO Joshua Bingcang and PhilSA director general Joel Joseph Marciano Jr. signed the 50-year lease contract.

It covers the lease of a hectare of land in New Clark City, which will serve as the official home of the country’s space agency.

“Once built, we are confident that the Philippines will have one of the most modern space centers in Southeast Asia; and what better place for this to happen than in New Clark City, the first smart and disaster-resilient city in the Philippines,” Bingcang said.

Marciano said the partnership is the first of many things to come.

He said PhilSA looks to accomplish more with the BCDA in the coming years.

The PhilSA’s headquarters in New Clark City will consist of research and development laboratories and integrated testing facilities to help the agency implement its mandates.

Covering 9,450 hectares, New Clark City is being positioned by the BCDA as the country’s first smart, green, and resilient metropolis.

Other government locators expected in New Clark City are the Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas complex, which will include a currency production facility.