Author: BCDA
Posted: July 14, 2016 | Category: Investment And Projects
The state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said a total of 100 government executives who have completed a Singapore-based and funded training course in urban policy, governance and green city development will play a vital role in the development of the country’s first smart, green and disaster-resilient metropolis—Clark Green City.
“The wheels to develop the country’s most modern urban core are now in motion and we have the drivers to steer the wheels in the right direction,” President Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said during the closing ceremony of the Executive Training Program on Urban Policy, Governance and Green City Development held at the Seda Hotel in Bonifacio Global City.
Casanova underscored the importance of learning from the Singapore experience in green city development, urban planning, public administration and governance, strategic planning, and economic development, among others, to ensure that the best practices in the development of 9,450-hectare Clark Green City are adapted.
He noted that the training program has allowed the BCDA to build a core group of local government leaders and competent urban planners that can execute best practices learned in green city building.
Four separate batches of 25 government officials and officers travelled to Singapore in 2015 and 2016 to attend a 14-day extensive training on urban policy, governance and green city in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The training course was a joint program and was partially funded by Temasek Foundation and NTU.
Officials who attended the closing ceremony include Singapore's Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Kok Li Peng, Tarlac Governor Susan A. Yap, Temasek Foundation CEO Benedict Cheong, and NTU Vice President Prof. Er Meng Hwa.
At full development, Clark Green City will have some 1.12 million residents, 800,000 workers and contribute a gross output of approximately P1.57 trillion per year to the national economy or roughly four percent share in the county’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Its strategic location and connectivity to major cities in Central Luzon through the country’s expressways that include the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) and soon the Central Luzon Expressway (CLEX) will allow the convergence from north, east, south, and west, and serve a catchment population of some 12 million people.