Infrastructure Development
For the Management Association of the Philippines
March 19, 2008
Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 24, 2008
The motoring public, which has been treated to a dry run of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), must have experienced a different but pleasant feeling while driving. At last, we have a road that can compare with those in other countries. The expressway, a project of the BCDA, is only one component project of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development (SCAD) which includes the recently completed Subic Container Port Project of the SBMA and the upgrade of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport by the CDC. Together, they would constitute the logistics hub that would enable industries in the Subic-Clark corridor to compete in the global economy. In this era of just-in-time production, it was imperative that Subic and Clark shed off their real estate selling mind-set and, instead, redefine their business as enabler for locator-companies to deliver their goods, data and services to the market place ahead of their competitors.
The Subic-Clark Alliance is a break from the traditional development paradigm that has been Manila-centric. To defy the gravitational pull of the center, Central Luzon must develop its own infrastructures independent of Manila. On this, it enjoys a head start over other regions with the $14 Billion worth of infrastructures and facilities left behind by the U.S. Navy and Air Force in Subic and Clark. But to succeed, the two Economic Zones should not just do more but do things differently, together. With its natural harbor and deep water, it is obvious that Subic is, first and foremost, a port and must build a modern container facility if it is to become a maritime center and take its share of the growing container cargo market. But its land area, wedged between mountain and sea, is limited. On the other hand, Clark, which has vast plains surrounding an airport with a dual runway, is landlocked. What better way than to connect the two with an efficient highway and create a synergy between them? The hub will be greater than the sum of its parts. Locators in Clark will have efficient access to Subic Port, a short 55 kilometers or 30 minutes drive, for their containerized cargo, while locators in Subic will have access to airfreight service at Clark’s International Airport. The upcoming Hermosa Economic Zone, midway between Subic and Clark, will have easy access to both facilities. The expressway, which extends from Clark through Luisita Industrial Park up to its terminus at La Paz, Tarlac, is 94 kilometers long. The public is now anticipating its extension to Rosario, La Union, another 90-kilometer stretch parallel to McArthur Highway. If a short spur from La Paz connecting to Maharlika Road in Nueva Ecija gets constructed, the tourism industry for both Baguio and Banawe as well as agricultural trade between North Luzon and Manila should benefit as well.
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One cannot overstress the importance of adequate infrastructures to drive development. It is not surprising that the two largest investments in the country went to this logistics hub- the $1.5 billion Han Jin Shipyards to Subic (with an expansion shipyard in PHIVIDEC, Mindanao that cannot be accommodated in Subic), and Texas Instruments’ (TI) $1 billion expansion to the aviation center in Clark where Philippine Air Lines plans to move into. Since TI ships out almost 100% of its products by air, even its main plant in Baguio will benefit from its proximity to Clark’s International Airport with the construction of the Tarlac- Rosario, La Union expressway. This may have something to do for TI’s decision to pick Clark instead of China despite the latter’s offer with more liberal terms. And as the hub serves as the gateway for materials, finished goods and people, a side benefit is the decongestion of Metro Manila.
But all this could not have happened if we were not able to overcome our proclivities that had been the bane of development planners.
On the local level is the tendency of the two Economic Zones to develop as separate enclaves fiercely competing against each other. Had this tendency persisted without regard to the complementation necessary to mitigate the weaknesses and enhance the strengths of Subic and Clark, the synergy would not have happened. Since SCAD’s inception in 1999, the Administration of SBMA, BCDA and CDC have changed hands several times. It is to their credit that the project was pursued to its conclusion.
And on the national level, the penchant to scuttle or replace programs of the previous Administration did not happen, fortunately, in the case of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development project. The genesis of the project goes all the way back to the term of President Corazon Aquino when a resolution was filed creating a West-Central Luzon Development Plan that subsequently was enlarged into the Central Luzon Development Plan after Mt. Pinatubo erupted. It was the task of then DTI Undersecretary Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to secure funds for the planning phase from the Japan International Cooperation Agency. It was during the term of President Joseph Estrada that the Subic-Clark Alliance was conceptualized and the funding secured for the Subic Container Port, along with five other projects, from the Obuchi Fund of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). But it was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that undertook construction and had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon for both the Subic Port and the SCTEX.
Spanning several Administrations, the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development can be truly called a legacy project.
Felicito C. Payumo was a three-term Representative of the 1st District of Bataan and a former Chairman and Administrator of the Subic Metropolitan Authority.
Comments to: payumo.felicito@gmail.com
