AGI eyes Clark project
MANILA, Philippines–The group of property tycoon Andrew Tan is considering to bid for a piece of 9,450-hectare Clark Green City in Pampanga, which is envisioned by the state-controlled Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) to become the country’s first “smart, green and disaster-resilient” metropolis.
Kingson Sian, president of Tan-led Alliance Global Group Inc., said on the sidelines of the conglomerate’s annual stockholders’ meeting that the group had long been interested in Clark, Pampanga.
In the past, AGI’s property arm Megaworld Corp. has participated and won several property ventures bid out by the BCDA to the private sector.
“I think [for] all of these things that are sizable, we are always going to participate in a way that we will look at it. If it makes sense, then we’ll go into it,” Sian said. “We’ll always look at it, at the very least.”
Clark, a former US Air Force base, today offers modern infrastructure facilities, generous fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, professional support services, amenities and other perks for industrial and other business locators.
For its part, state-run BCDA has started the bidding process for the first phase of development of the P200-billion Clark Green City. It plans to auction off contracts covering the long-term lease and development of five lots with a total area of 1,250 hectares. Of these five lots, two lots measuring 300 ha (Lot 1) and 200 ha (Lot 2) will be dedicated to industrial use, while the remaining three lots, measuring 200 ha (Lot 3), 400 ha (Lot 4) and 50 ha (Lot 5) will be for mixed-use developments. The term of the lease is 50 years, renewable for another 25 years.
As the project is within the Clark Special Economic Zone, prospective investors, developers and locators can avail of various incentives such as a 5-percent levy on gross income earned in lieu of all national and local taxes and duties, as well as tax- and duty-free importation of raw materials and capital equipment.
In 2011, Megaworld announced a P7-billion deal with the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) to develop up to 550 hectares of the former US military property into a mixed-use complex. But while a memorandum of agreement was signed with CDC to develop portions of the Clark Freeport Zone and the Clark Special Economic Zone, the government did not push through with the proposed development.
Meanwhile, Sian affirmed Megaworld’s interest in the bidding for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)’s P122.8-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project, the biggest infrastructure project so far to be offered under the public-private partnership framework.
“It’s a big project so it’s interesting. I think we got the documents,” Sian said, adding that a project of this scale may require partnerships with other parties.
