BIZ BUZZ: Bringing the A game to Clark

Arrey Ancheta Perez, the newly installed president and chief executive officer of Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), is bringing his A game to Clark, with aggressive plans underway to bring in big-ticket projects to the complex.

Among the top priorities of the former senior vice president for corporate services of the Bases Conversion Development Authority is the completion of a national food terminal adjacent to the bustling airport that is expected to cost at least P8 billion.

The National Food Terminal will occupy approximately 70 hectares of land near the airport and will provide a comprehensive range of services, including research and quality control, warehousing, food processing, marketing and trading for both local and international markets.

According to CIAC, the food terminal will be “a significant support pillar” to the Marcos administration’s goal to further develop the country’s agricultural economy by improving transportation, storage and processing of farm and livestock harvests, thereby reducing spoilage and increasing the quality of food products. It is expected to be up and running by 2026.

The food terminal is just one of a number of projects to be kicked off next year that will contribute to the transformation of the former Clark military airbase in Pampanga into the Clark Civil Aviation Complex, an “aerotropolis” that is set to become the country’s premier global civil aviation logistics hub.

Also, Perez says the food terminal is one of President Marcos’ priority projects and he intends to shepherd it to completion through schemes such as the public private partnership (PPP) model or through a design, build finance, operate and maintain scheme.

“Another possibility is a hybrid PPP where the government conducts separate public tenders, and the terms of the funding for the construction, operation and maintenance are negotiated with a private company. This would also depend on the risk appetite of the government and private sectors,” says Perez.

So anybody interested? CIAC is open for business.

—Tina Arceo-Dumlao INQ