Gird for SCTEX-driven boom, CL officials told

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) is urging Central Luzon towns and cities to be traversed by the 93.7-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) to consider reclassifying agricultural lands to industrial or commercial purposes to take advantage of the expected investment boom when the project is completed next year.

BCDA president and chief executive officer Narciso Abaya said the P21-billion SCTEX "will serve as the backbone of a new and highly competitive economic corridor of the country in Southeast Asia."

The SCTEX, which will be the country’s longest tollway when finished, will link up the Subic Bay Freeport, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport at the Clark special economic zone, and the Luisita Industrial Park in Tarlac.

Travel time from Subic to Clark would be shortened from over an hour to about 30 minutes, and Clark to Tarlac City, from 44 minutes to just 20 minutes.

"We expect investors to take notice of the convergence of air, sea, and land transport to be triggered by the project and they will eventually infuse more investments into the economic zones and industrial parks in Central Luzon, particularly along the tollway’s route," Abaya said.

He urged local governments to "start evaluating their land use plans to address the needs of investors" and consider "rezoning or reclassifying lands from agricultural to industrial or commercial."

"There is also a need for (them) to coordinate with each other for a holistic and integrated approach in planning their areas to ensure a win-win scenario. What we don’t want to happen is for the local governments to be competing for the same investors, leading to cutthroat competition," he said.

Abaya suggested that the local governments identify their "investment niches, be it in the agri-industrial or service sector."

He said local governments that fail to align their plans with the completion of the SCTEX "will be left out of the socio-economic benefits" that the project would bring.

"An increase of tourists in Central Luzon is also expected as a result of the project, so as early as now, the local governments should prepare for them," he added.

During her visit here last week, President Arroyo said the SCTEX is now about 30 percent complete and that despite a five percent slippage, its contractor has given assurance that the entire project would be completed as scheduled.

The Clark-Tarlac stretch is expected to be finished by August next year, and the Subic-Clark segment three months later.

Earlier, the BCDA announced that it would bid out to the private sector this year the management and operation of the SCTEX.

"The selection of BCDA’s strategic partner for the operation and maintenance of SCTEX will be done through competitive bidding. We want them on board before the end of 2006 in preparation for the operation of the expressway by the end of 2007," Abaya said.