B sought to boost Subic infrastructure

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has asked the national government for P10.2 billion for the freeport’s six-year infrastructure development program.

SBMA Chairman Wilma T. Eisma said the program is expected to maintain Subic’s standing as the country’s go-to trade and tourism center.

“We are now bidding out six major projects to set into motion the execution of a P530-million program to rehabilitate, upgrade and develop roads and other public facilities in the Subic Bay Freeport,” Eisma said.

“These form part of the SBMA’s P10.2-billion six-year infrastructure development program that will be funded by the national government and set for completion by 2023,” she added.

It will be the first time SBMA is asking for national funding for infrastructure projects. “But we feel justified not only because of the scope, but also because we’d like to think that these projects are investments on the part of the government,” Eisma said.

“These projects are necessary for Subic to sustain its position as one of the biggest revenue contributors among the investment promotions agencies in the country today,” she said.

Since the Freeport started, there has not been a major effort to upgrade its infrastructure, which includes roads and docks used by shipping companies.

“Even the security fence that defined the area of the former Subic naval base has already deteriorated,” Eisma said.

The projects for this year include various road rehabilitation work amounting to P369.7 million; Phase 2 of the NSD road network project, at P75.8 million; installation of navigational buoys, P47.5 million; installation of new traffic control systems, P9.6 million; repair of El Kabayo Road, P9.3 million; and drainage improvement at Argonaut Highway, P18 million.

Other projects lined up seaport and airport development projects, road widening and extension projects, and the construction of an SBMA Corporate Center.

Eisma said the SBMA has scheduled the projects based on the immediacy of Subic’s needs as a maritime logistics hub, with the first projects encompassing roads, traffic controls, drainage, as well as buoys and other equipment, and to be followed by seaport and airport improvements, road expansion, bridge and overpass projects, and finally the SBMA Corporate Center.