CDC sets audit of idle lands at Clark Freeport

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga , Philippines   â€“ Amid a shortage of lands that could be leased out to investors, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president and chief executive officer Arthur Tugade has ordered an audit of all vacant lands in this freeport.

“We expect to finish this work within this year,” Tugade told members of Capampangans in Media Inc. in a briefing yesterday.

Earlier, the CDC said only 146 hectares out of some 2,400 hectares of land under its jurisdiction remain open for lease.

The rest have been leased out to investors, including wide areas that have remained idle over the past years.

While Tugade admitted that lease contracts over idle lands could no longer be rescinded, he said there are other means to make the areas productive.

He said he has talked to some investors who have been convinced to either put up projects or voluntarily give back their idle lands to the CDC.

Tugade said the CDC was able to “recover” recently 26.80 hectares of idle lands initially leased out to four locators, bringing to 240 hectares the total area “recovered” from lessees.

The lease contracts covering idle areas were given out before Tugade took over the CDC last December.

To prevent this from happening again, Tugade said new lease contracts would impose a “contractual commitment” that projects would be accomplished within a timeline, and violation of this would lead to termination of the contracts.   

Earlier, the Bases Conversion Development Authority bared plans to gradually move out six units of the Philippine Air Force from some 320 hectares allocated to them in this freeport. This is expected to provide the CDC with more lands to lease out to investors.

Tugade said the bulk of CDC’s income is derived from land lease payments.