New SBMA chair sees stronger interest in Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The newly-appointed chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is looking to strengthen business in the freeport zone in order to generate more investment and livelihood opportunities in the Subic Bay area.

Former Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption chair Martin B. Diño, who took over chairmanship of SBMA last Monday, said the agency under his administration will seek to maximize the use of the Subic port and develop more business districts for investors.

“We need to maximize the use of the Subic port, especially the container terminal here, to bring in more business and, at the same time, help solve the traffic congestion in Manila ports,” Diño said during a media briefing following the turnover ceremony last Monday.

“At the same time, we should find ways to accommodate more investments because the available area for further development in Subic is now very much limited,” he added.

Diño noted that the capacity of the New Container Terminal 1 and 2 in the Subic Bay Freeport “is more than enough to handle all the containers originating from and bound for Central and Northern Luzon.”

However, he said there is a need to develop a bigger logistics area that would cater to the needs of the growing number of port users.

Diño also called for the transfer of the Bataan Technology Park Inc. ( BTPI) to the management of SBMA.

“We can spur the development of the entire area of BTPI into a central business district for shippers, logistics, and other related industries, as the Subic Bay Freeport is already running out of developable lands,” he said.

The 380-hectare BTPI is located in Barangay Sabang, Morong, Bataan, about 30 minutes away from the Subic Bay Freeport’s central business district. Once a UN High Commission’s Refugee Processing Center, the BTPI is considered ideal for light and customized manufacturing industries.

Under Proclamation No. 532, which delineates the metes and bounds of the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone, Subic has a total land and water area of about 67,452 hectares. Out of this, the fenced area where much development has taken place is approximately 14,000 hectares.

However, out of the fenced area, only about 2,800 hectares or about 20 percent is developable, while the remaining 11,200 hectares or about 80 percent of the total land and water area are high slopes, forests, and protected areas.