By Kris Crismundo
MANILA – The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has recently vowed to deliver a total of 57.18 kilometers of road networks in the New Clark City (NCC), Tarlac by the end of the year.
In a statement, BCDA said the total length of road networks to be completed this year would cover 40 percent of the planned 148.44-km roads throughout the NCC. The government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) is currently working on the NCC Connecting Road Package 2 with a total length of 15.7 kilometers.
Package 2 will traverse NCC’s industrial area, Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas complex. In November last year, the BCDA completed 41.48 km roadways, including the 12-km access road from NCC to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the 19.8-km One Clark Boulevard linking NCC to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
“One of the main elements that make Clark so attractive to investors is its unmatched connectivity, supported by its own international airport, a nearby seaport, and major expressways,” BCDA president and chief executive officer Joshua Bingcang noted.
“But we need to further build on this connectivity and invest more on infrastructures. By doing this, we can create the scale to make us more competitive against our neighbors and elevate New Clark City’s position as a premier investment hub,” he added.
BCDA will soon open the procurement for road packages 3 and 4, with lengths of 7.5 and 6.7 km, respectively. It will also bid out connecting roads for NCC’s sports complex, residential area and the river park.
A 72.26-km road network is also in the pipeline, the BCDA said, adding that the
projects include bicycle and pedestrian lanes, solar street lights and linear parks, as well as drainage and slope protection structures. (PNA)