Ayala Land Inc. to craft master plan for Subic-Olongapo business triangle

[Guest]

Caps lock is activated.

[Forum Admin]

      
Although more idealistic than realistic in the near term, Ayala's proposal to draw a master plan, not only for it's leased property inside the Freeport, but also for the area outside of the Main Gate, is still something to look forward to. A draft map of the proposed plan was presented by SBMA SDA for Business Group Stef Saño during the Annual General Membership Meeting of the Chamber last November 24. Henry Empeño reports:

Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), one of the biggest property developers in the country, will be drawing up the master plan for a unique business-development project in this free port and the neighboring city of Olongapo.

The project, to be called the  Central Business District (CBD) Triangle, will straddle the boundary between the Subic Bay Free Port and Olongapo City near the free port’s main gate.

Armand Arreza, administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the project will cover about 7,000 square meters [?] of prime business land and will be the first step in the agency’s push to develop areas beyond Subic’s “secured area.”

ALI has formally committed to draw the project’s master plan in a memorandum of understanding signed on Wednesday by ALI president Anthony Aquino, Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon Jr. and Arreza.

Arreza said in a statement on Thursday that the CBD Triangle project aims to make the adjoining portions of Subic Free Port and Olongapo City “into a green, environment-friendly residential, commercial and institutional area.”

“This will be the initial project in accordance with the SBMA’s thrust to extend the physical boundaries of the Subic Free Port, and in the process generate more livelihood opportunities for people in the surrounding communities,” Arreza said.

See full report by Henry Empeño in the Business Mirror.
 

Related posts and info:

• See earlier post here regarding signing of 50-year lease between SBMA and Ayala.
   
• See post about SM possibly leasing the Olongapo City Mall. Note that the mall is just outside the CBD Triangle.
   
• See also map below of the Olongapo City side of the CBD Triangle.
   
• Click here to view Executive Order 675 which makes the Freeport extension possible.
   

[gabriella]

Wonder how SM would fit into all of it since they are going to get the Olongpo mall. 

[Forum Admin]

The red-tinted area in the map below is the Olongapo part of the Central Business District Triangle. Various articles reporting that this is a 7,000 square meter area are obviously mistaken. This looks like more of a 7-hectare area.


Click here then click photo to view large image in the Gallery.

The extension of Subic Bay Freeport’s tax and duty-free privileges to the City of Olongapo will be a key component in realizing the P3-billion development project proposed by Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) for the city’s business district.

ALI President and CEO Antonino Aquino said that fiscal incentives like Subic’s minimal five percent gross income tax, if successfully extended to the 7,000-square meter Olongapo City Central Business District (CBD) Triangle, would set the stage for robust trade in the area.

Aquino said these tax and duty-free incentives would enable the planned tripartite committee to offer attractive deals to win the cooperation of Olongapeños, particularly the business group, which he said would be the “lifeblood of this development.”

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza assured Aquino that this prospect would be realized as soon as President Arroyo approves the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Executive Order No. 675, which was signed by the President on November 5, 2007 to expand the area where tax and duty-free privileges would apply.

See full report by Franco Regala at the Manila Bulletin here.
 

[hadronstorm]

Various articles reporting that this is a 7,000 square meter area are obviously mistaken. This looks like more of a 7-hectare area.

haha, admin caught it. thats why reporters are not engineers. 7000 sq meters is just teh area of columban church and high school (teh small triangle). this is a clear symptom of non-fact checking by reporters though.

[yoda]

Update, Ayala has none. Like a government bureaucracy, perhaps they already become. Hmmm.