‘New Clark City’ to start building for SEA Games

State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is working on building a portion of the highly-anticipated “New Clark City” in time for the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

BCDA president and chief executive officer Vivencio B. Dizon told reporters that there was “enough time” to build a portion of the New Clark City in 2019 although the full phase one of the city would not be completed until 2022.

Dizon’s statement came on the heels of a recent announcement by Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that the country would be hosting the 2019 SEA Games, delighting local sports enthusiasts. The government had previously shelved the idea in order to focus on the ongoing crisis in Marawi City.

Cayetano, chair of the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee, said that the biennial sports event was being planned to be held in Bulacan, Zambales and Pampanga.

“As announced, it [New Clark City] would be one of the venues for the SEA Games 2019. So we’re really fast-tracking the development,” Dizon said.

“There is enough time because we’re not building it all,” he added.

Dizon, a consultant of Cayetano when the latter was still senator, refrained from giving more details of the initiative.

“The first phase has several components. The full phase one would still be (completed in) 2022, but some parts of phase one would be done in 2019. I just can’t tell you which ones yet because we’re still planning (these phases),” he said.

The Philippines last hosted the SEA Games in 2005 when the country became overall champion for the first time. Hosting the games in the next two years will mark the fourth time the multisport event will be held in the country.

New Clark City, an ambitious initiative that covers more than 9,000 hectares in Central Luzon, was formally known as Clark Green City during the Aquino administration.