SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bangkok-based Mahanakorn Partners Group Co., Ltd. (MPG) have agreed to conduct feasibility studies on the viability of various infrastructure projects for construction inside this premier Freeport.
SBMA chairman and administrator, Wilma Eisma, and MPG managing partner, Luca Bernardinetti, signed the agreement that would allow MPG to conduct studies, free of charge, on infrastructure undertakings under the proposed “Greater Subic Bay Freeport Multimodal Transport and Access and Logistics Support Projects”.
Eisma said the project is in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “10-Point Agenda” to accelerate infrastructure spending and pump-prime economic development through productivity, trade and investment.
“We want to help resolve congestion at the Port of Manila and ease traffic gridlock in the metropolis while shifting the momentum of development north toward the corridor of new wealth in Subic and Clark,” she said, noting that Subic and Clark are now at the epicenter of development as drivers of economic growth in the country.
Part of the study to be conducted will focus on the proposed construction of a 17.273-km. bypass road connecting the Subic seaport terminals directly to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) to provide exclusive routes for cargoes brought in and out of Subic Freeport.
Another proposal is the building of a 17-km. bypass road from the Subic seaport to Segment 7 of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), a two-lane cargo truck expressway and railway system, and a 25-km. bypass road from Tipo Road in Bataan to Castillejos, Zambales en route to the Redondo Peninsula to open up a 3,000-hectare new industrial site.
The agreement also covers the proposed upgrading of the existing Subic Bay International Airport to world-class status, making it a viable alternative to the heavily congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport, as well as a strategic transshipment and logistics hub in the Asian region.
The agreement between the two parties will remain in force for one year, but may be extended upon mutual consent.
The Mahanakorn Partners Group, a holding company based in Bangkok, Thailand, consists of several firms providing services on business consulting, legal and trade finance, as well as property management and development, among others. (PNA)
