The Subic Bay Metropoli-tan Authority (SBMA) is set to change the land-scape of Subic Freeport as it identified eight sep-

arate initiatives envisioned to spur economic development inside the Freeport zone. SBMA Administrator and CeO Ar-mand Arreza disclosed the plan dur-ing the State of the Freeport Address that will soon be implemented by the SBMA. Arreza identified the eight priority projects such as the redevelopment of the Central Business District, re-development of Subic Gateway park formerly Subic Bay Industrial park, linking SBMA’s tourist district with Olongapo City, establishment of a new Gateway Business District, develop-ment of regional bus terminal, cre-ation of yacht-building cluster at the former Ship Repair Facility, develop Subic to become the next cruise ship destination in Asia Pacific, and more importantly, take possession of idle and abandoned projects that created blots on the landscape of the Freeport. Arreza said that investments will not bring economic benefits if they do not materialize… “So, we would like to have eight separate initiatives in line with this,” Arreza said. he said that the first one is the re-development of the Central Tourist District. “The Central Tourist District is re-ally the proper name for the Central Business District. The reason is that most of the activities contained there are tourism related as opposed to of-fices and buildings, “Arreza explained. he said that the first major proj-ect in this area is the development of the Ayala Mall complex expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2011. “We are also seeking to develop adjacent to it a regional bus terminal so we would have express bus service from Manila Clark Subic heading to the North, either to Zambales or to Tarlac,” Arreza said. Next is the plan of SBMA to at-tract a yacht-building cluster to lo-cate within SRF. he mentioned that the Subic Bay Yacht Club which has already been purchased from Land-bank by a private group and is set to be redeveloped this year. The SBMA, as one of the founding members of the ASeAN Cruise Termi-nals Association (ACTA), is hoping to have regular luxury ship visits. “We are working with Global Ter-minals to attract cruise ships to come here,” he said. “even if it is once a year - just to get the ball rolling - we will do it for Subic to become part of the itiner-ary of regular cruise ships in Asia,” he said. “That‘s why Global Termi-

nal Services is making investments in commercial facilities, as well as the cruise ship passenger terminal at the Alava Pier.” Meanwhile, The optimism was further buoyed by the growing mid-dle class in Asia, said Ronnie Yam-bao, head of the Manufacturing and Maritime Department of the SBMA’s Business and Investment Group Yambao said ACTA members are also preparing for joint marketing drives and training workshops, as well as a continuing program for the exchange of information on best prac-tices. Another important initiative is how to get rid off of these rotting rows of buildings and idle construc-tion projects. “Two weeks ago, I received a blog post from a gentleman from the Unit-ed States, who was very disappointed when he came to visit Subic because he saw a lot of the projects here did not materialize,” Arreza said. To address this concern, Arreza said that he already tasked the en-tire management team “to give a big push.” “We have tried to be flexible in

trying to extend to our locators all assistance possible, but of course, if the project remains idle, I think it is incumbent upon us that we have to take possession against these prop-erties,” he said. In particular, Arrreza said, “I am referring to the Ocean 9 properties, Ampelos, as well as the Time Square properties and lot more, which have deteriorated over the past years. I think we are close to having a solu-tion to the Ocean 9 properties, the Legenda properties, and should be able to invite a new hotel operator to come this year.” The next project is to link this tour-ist district with Olongapo City. “Just as an update, we are on sched-ule to complete Kalaklan Bridge by June this year,” he said. There has been a request from the Greater Subic Bay Tourism Bureau for SBMA to open the bridge temporarily for summer. “The SBMA engineering team is already evaluating the possibility of opening a lane or the existing bridge to light vehicles at least during the summer period, to relieve the conges-tion in Olongapo City and also in sup-

port of the tourism establishments in Olongapo City in Barreto,’ Arezza said. Likewise, the SBMA has complet-ed the design of the new Magsaysay Bridge and is poised to bid it out on the third quarter of this year - depending on fund availability. “We are working to restructure the SBMA’s debts through Banco de Oro,” he said. “Once that those debts have been restructured, the SBMA should have the funds to be able to complete and begin building for the new Mag-saysay Bridge.” The new bridge is going to be a four-lane bridge to connect to Mag-saysay drive with a dedicated pedes-trian lane. “This should of course alleviate traffic because we expect a lot of traf-fic coming from the development of both the Ayala and SM malls almost across each other and opening at al-most the same time in 2012,” Arreza said. Next is the SBDMC which has like-wise come up with plans to redevelop the sprawling 300-hectare industrial complex into a mixed-use develop-ment. “Already you see some of the de-velopments happening over by Wis-tron as well as the opening of Ford and some hotels. Mitsubishi is also proposing to build a show room in that corner by this year,” Arreza said. he said that the redevelopment of what was formerly an industrial area to a mixed-use development is on-going. “We see this industrial area emerging to be primarily our BPO cen-

ter within the next few years,” he said. Adjacent to it and the next prior-ity project is the Microvan area locat-ed next to Petron station, which the SBMA planned to be the new Gateway Business District. This is a 17-hectare site that for the past 15 years has been used as a storage facility for second hand equip-ment. “We would like to see this area redeveloped into the new gateway business district. So you will have the BPOs, the commercial establish-ments as well as office spaces being complimented in this area,” Arreza said. Last but not the least within the Gateway District is the efforts of SBMA to attract an anchor educational in-stitution - a major university - to take over the five-hectare lot currently oc-cupied by Paradise Resort and hotel. Arreza said that the SBDMC has already terminated the contract due to non-performance, and the SBMA is looking now to discussions with universities to set up an anchor uni-versity over that area. “So you will have a school, some BPO facilities, as well as offices to comprise the new Gateway Business District,” Arreza said. Surely, if these priority projects are done, the blemishing landscape of Subic, which every one of us would not want to see, should instead be transformed into a highly-urbanized economic growth center and not than just an old and rotting industrial and commercial Freeport zone.

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