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SCTEX: The Modern-day Silk Road
Author: Highlife (Magazine of Business World)/ Miguel Escano
Posted: June 28, 2010 | Category: SCTEX
In ancient times, the Silk Road connected cities and kingdoms across Asia and Europe. It was a network of trade routes that brought silk, gold and other precious commodities from China to India to the Middle East to Europe and to other territories. But more than its function as a road network, the Silk Road kindled interaction between cultures and civilizations, hastening the development of the ancient world.
In modern times, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) continues the tradition of the Silk Road. Linking Subic to Clark to Tarlac and to other territories, this major road network expedites travel. But more than its intended function, the SCTEX promotes business and tourism across its territories, hastening the economic growth of Central and Northern Luzon.
FROM ANCIENT… TO MODERN
More than facilitating trade, the Silk Road facilitated exchange and interaction between cultures, religions, and civilizations. The interaction between East and West through the Silk Road spurred an interest in travel and exploration in both Asia and Europe. Travelers from China and Europe, the most famous of whom was Marco Polo, shared the knowledge of their travels with their countrymen upon returning home.
Many of the cities criss-crossed by the Silk Road remained centers of culture and civilization long after the ancient route was overshadowed by sea travel. Many of these cities, such as Samarkand which is now part of the country of Uzbekistan, became crossroads of culture and civilization.
In the modern world, travel now encompasses land, sea and air. Of the three, land transport remains the most basic and most widely used form of travel. Road networks link cities, provinces, states, and even continents. Despite the world getting smaller because of the many modes of transportation, roads have gotten wider and longer to accommodate the growing number of vehicles and people traveling by land.
The Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) inherits the mantle of the Silk Road. A modern and stateof-the-art expressway, the SCTEX continues the legacy of the ancient trade route by not only expediting land transportation but by also promoting business development and tourism across its territories.
Spanning 93.77 kilometers, the SCTEX is the longest toll road in the country. Similar to the Silk Road, which was divided into northern and southern routes, the SCTEX is divided into two sections. The first section is from Subic to Clark with a distance of 50.5 kilometers. The second section is from Clark to Tarlac with a distance of 43.27 kilometers. This major road network connects four provinces: Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac.
The SCTEX represents a partnership between the Philippine government, through the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Japanese government, through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The project cost Php34.1 billion with 79 percent funded through a loan from the Japanese government through JBIC. The remaining 21 percent was funded by the Philippine government through the BCDA.
At the formal opening of the SCTEX in 2008, Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Makoto Katsura lauded the completion of the expressway. He said, “The government of Japan recognizes the importance of infrastructure improvement in achieving socio-economic development of the Philippines, and in raising the standard of living of the Filipino people.”
Construction of the road network was completed in record time. All it took was a little less than three years after the groundbreaking in April 2005. The SCTEX started full operations in July 25, 2008. The 50.5 km Subic-Clark segment plus 10 kms of the Clark-Tarlac Segment opened April 28, 2008 while the remaining 32.27 kms of the Clark-Tarlac Segment opened July 25, 2008.
ECONOMIC CORRIDOR
The SCTEX links three major business centers: the Subic Freeport Zone, the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, and the Centro Techno Park in Tarlac. Formerly military bases of the US, Subic and Clark have emerged as major business hubs in Northern Luzon.
Since its construction, the SCTEX has become the backbone of the Central Luzon logistics hub, bringing Subic and Clark closer to each other and these two territories closer to the rest of Northern Luzon. Travel time from Clark to Subic has been reduced to 40 minutes while travel time from Clark to Tarlac has been reduced to 25 minutes. The reduced travel time has benefitted, in particular, business activities at the Subic Seaport and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark.
The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has identified SCTEX as among the most vital infrastructures designed to stimulate the “Extended W Growth Corridor” in Central Luzon. In 2009, NEDA assistant director in Central Luzon Lynette Bautista said that the SCTEX is expected to further increase the region’s 8.3 per cent share in the Philippines’s GDP as of 2008. Central Luzon ranked as the third highest in the 2008 regional GDP, next to the National Capital Region and the CALABARZON.
Business process outsourcing, health and wellness, logistics and port development, food, agribusiness, aquaculture, tourist destination and facilities development and ancillary services and products to locators in industrial estates and economic zones are among the growth areas eyed by NEDA.
TOURISM BOOSTER
The impact of the SCTEX extends to tourism, encouraging travel to and across Northern and Central Luzon. The Subic and Clark Freeport Zones have benefitted from the spike in arrivals among local and foreign tourists. In 2009, NEDA’s Bautista emphasized the 24.2 per cent increase in visitor arrivals from 2007 to 2008, the year when SCTEX began full operations. From 427,364 local and foreign tourists in 2007, the figures rose to 530,802 in 2008.
“SCTEX enhanced the complementary character of Subic and Clark. Tourism drastically increased in the region due to significantly reduced travel time,” said Bautista.
Traffic volume reached a record high last Easter when the number of vehicles passing through the toll-way, measured in terms of toll cash transactions, totaled 39,555. This was 15 percent higher than the 34,241 cash transactions registered on Easter 2009.
“The traffic volume record posted during the last Holy Week proves that a growing number of motorists now realize the benefits they gained in using the SCTEX,” Robert Gervacio, SCTEX program manager and spokesperson, said. “Not only do they get to their destinations faster, travel becomes safer and more comfortable.”
The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) echoed NEDA’s and BCDA’s sentiments, pointing out the unprecedented growth to the freeport’s tourism industry since the SCTEX fully opened in 2008.
SBMA administrator Armand Arreza said that tourist arrivals in Subic Bay peaked during the Holy Week in 2009, posting a 74-percent growth compared to the same week during the previous year. Arreza added that a total of 43,984 vehicles visited the Subic Bay Freeport in 2009, compared to only 25,300 in the previous year.
Other destinations in Central and Northern Luzon have reaped tourism rewards from SCTEX. The Summer Capital of the North, Baguio City expects a greater influx of tourists every year since the SCTEX was fully opened in 2008. In February 2010, the city received a record number of tourists visiting for the annual Panagbenga flower festival. Thanks to the SCTEX, travel time from Metro Manila to Baguio has been reduced from six hours to four hours.
GREEN HAVEN
The lahar-strewn landscape of Pampanga and Zambales, territories of the SCTEX, evokes the arid emptiness of the deserts that also dot the Silk Road. The BCDA plans to transform these stretches of wasteland into tree-lined vistas.
Maj. Gen. Trifonio Salazar (Ret), SCTEX program manager for administrative services and head of its Greening Program, said the agency plans to create a tree museum along SCTEX. The plan called for 50,000 trees to be planted over five years, starting in 2008 and ending in 2012. Native tree species are to be planted along bare stretches of the expressway, particularly in areas devastated by lahar. In 2010, the agency set a target of 15,000 trees to be planted before the end of the year.
As highways of economic growth and tourism, the Silk Road and the SCTEX have much in common. Yet in the same breath, the two routes are worlds apart. Despite being the longest toll road in the Philippines, the SCTEX is dwarfed by the length of the Silk Road, which spanned several countries and bridged the continents of Asia and Europe. In ancient times, travelers along the Silk Road had to brave the fury of the elements and constant attacks from bandits. In the modern age, travelers plying the SCTEX are spoiled with road construction of the highest order as well as topnotch safety features and roadside lighting.
Just as the modern world thanks the Silk Road for hastening the growth of civilization, Filipinos have many things to thank the SCTEX for. Among these are the simple pleasures for any land traveler: the assurance of a steady road; the confidence of reaching destinations safely; and the grace of enjoying the journey. MIGUEL ESCAÑO •
