Filinvest seen getting Clark Green City deal

Property developer Filinvest Land Inc. tendered Tuesday its offer to develop 288 hectares of prime land in Clark Green City, touted to become the country’s first smart, disaster-resilient metropolis.

In a statement, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said Filinvest Land was the lone proponent that submitted a valid bid amounting to P160 million, which is payable upon signing of the contract.

“We are excited to move forward with our new joint venture partner and start building what will be known as the country’s first ever smart, green and disaster-resilient metropolis,” said BCDA president and CEO Arnel Paciano D. Casanova.

Filinvest, as BCDA’s partner, is expected to play a significant role in accelerating the development of Clark Green City.

“We are happy to have Filinvest to be a partner because this will bring together the strengths of BCDA as developer of the Bonifacio Global City and Filinvest as the developer of the 244-hectare Filinvest City in Alabang and recently the newest Cebu business district—a P5-billion  business process outsourcing (BPO) complex,” Casanova said.

The offer of Filinvest will undergo a post-qualification process prior to the awarding of the contract. Once awarded, Filinvest will have to forge a joint-venture agreement with the BCDA, which will be taking the minority share of 45 percent. The joint venture, which will be valid for  50 years and can be renewed for another 50 years, will have the full development and usufructuary rights over the 288-hectare property.

Casanova said the usufructuary rights would be converted to full land ownership if and when the law would allow in the future, subject to mutual agreement of the parties.

The BCDA and the Department of Public Works and Highways are now building the main access roads leading to Clark Green City.  The BCDA has also teamed up with Pag-IBIG Fund for the construction of some 2,000 affordable mixed income housing units for those who will work in Clark Green City.  The housing project is seen to make Clark Green City inclusive and affordable even for minimum wage earners.

In August, the BCDA and the University of the Philippines signed an agreement for the establishment of a UP Clark Green City Campus on a 70-hectare land. Groundbreaking is slated for the first quarter of 2016.

At full development, Clark Green City will have about 1.12 million residents, 800,000 workers and contribute  gross output of P1.57 trillion per year to the economy or about 4 percent share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).