Clark, Pampanga—MTD Philippines, the contractor tapped by the government to build the New Clark City, plans to complete phase one of the massive facility within the next 73 days, way ahead of the government’s official deadline of Oct. 15, 2019.
MTD Philippines president Patrick Nicholas David told reporters in an interview on the sidelines of the New Clark City tour, which was conducted by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Department of Transportation and the Department of Finance on Wednesday, that construction was already 80-percent complete and was expected to be fully finished by Aug. 31, 2019.
“We are on track of meeting the actual deadline set by the government of finishing it by Oct. 15. And we are actually eyeing to meet our self-imposed deadline of Aug. 31, or within the next 73 days,” David said.
“We just want to be ahead of the curve (that is why we set a self-imposed deadline),” David said. The government expects the completion of the phase one of the facility in time for the country’s hosting of the biennial Southeast Asian Games in November 2019.
He said the actual construction started on March 15, 2018. The government gave MTD 18 months to finish the project. Phase one is composed of sports facilities intended for athletics and aquatic events.
David said to meet the self-imposed deadline, 8,000 workers were currently working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He said most of the materials used were secured locally but the design of the facility was benchmarked internationally. Julito G. Rada
David said after the SEA Games, the facility could be used by athletes preparing to compete in the approaching 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
“Not only that. We were also approached by some countries to train their athletes here before heading to Tokyo for the Olympics,” David said.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said the construction of New Clark City “makes sense” and would transform it into the country’s next big metropolis and decongest Metro Manila’s highly-populated urban centers.
He said the New Clark City was envisioned to be a hub of agro-industrial activities, home to cutting-edge technology and logistics companies and host to well-equipped backup government centers and world-class sports facilities.
He said the development of New Clark City would be supported by the construction of railways going to Subic and to Manila and the expansion of the Clark International Airport, which would get a new world-class terminal building to accommodate a projected eight million passengers a year to help relieve the congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City.