Diokno: Clark NGAC will solve MM traffic
THE National Government Administrative Center (NGAC) that is being built in New Clark City in Tarlac province can help solve traffic in the National Capital Region and benefit the Philippine economy, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said on Tuesday.
Ahead of his weekly “Breakfast with Ben” forum at the site of the P13.6-billion NGAC in Tarlac’s Capas town, Diokno said the superstructure would “decongest Metro Manila.”
According to him, the center would also address the high cost of doing business in the country, benefit the manufacturing sector, and provide thousands of housing units to those wishing to make New Clark City their new home.
“[The] cost of doing business will be much cheaper in Clark and Subic, because of lower power,” water, and telecommunications costs, as well as better climate conditions, he said.
“Manufacturing will continue to bloom with [New Clark City] as an industrial base. Housing will be cheaper, as people will voluntarilty” relocate from railway routes spanning Tutuban in Manila and Malolos City in Bulacan province to Clark, he added.
Expected to be constructed within NGAC are the stadium and aquatic center that will be used for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG), as well as offices of government agencies.
The center is set to be finished by October 2019, two months before the SEAG, Malaysian-owned contractor MTD Philippines said.
Its chairman Isaac David said the idea of putting offices of government agencies is similar to what Malaysia did in the late 1990s, when such offices relocated from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya.
MTD Philippines implemented a similar project in Laguna province’s Calamba City in 2013, and is set to build government centers in the cities of Laoag in Ilocos Norte province and Vigan in Ilocos Sur province by next year.
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