BCDA to implement Clark 'green city' development plan in 2013

The state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority will implement the master plan for the Clark "green city" project in 2013, said BCDA president and chief executive Arnel Paciano Casanova at the recent Philippine Real Estate Festival. The consortium of Planning Resources and Operations Systems, Inc. and Woodfields Consultants, which beat three other firms to win the bid to design the project, has been given until the end of the year to submit the master plan. The 36,000-hectare development, set to be completed in 2016, could position the Clark Special Economic Zone as a major investment destination in  Southeast Asia. Casanova said a comprehensive master development plan for Clark should bring equitable and inclusive economic benefits to the region without harm to the environment. "We would like to apply green technologies and we want to reduce the carbon footprint of the city by employing possible technologies to make the city sustainable. It will be high-tech but sustainable with a lot of trees, open spaces in Clark," Casanova said earlier. The BCDA's other PPP (public-private partnership) projects in the pipeline include the improvement of the Kennon Road in Baguio City, the construction of a low-cost carrier terminal in Clark, and the development of the Poro Point airport mall and terminal in La Union. Casanova said the feasibility study for a monorail that would link the cities of Makati, Taguig and Pasay is currently being done. He said the agency hopes to complete the project by 2015. — BM/VS, GMA News