CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, Pampanga—Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said here the rollout of the Clark International Airport expansion project within the first 18 months of the Duterte presidency demonstrates the “strong political will of the government to get things done fast” for the benefit of the people.

Dominguez said that unlike in the previous administration when one big-ticket project—the Cavite-Laguna Expressway—took all of 50 months from conception to the start of implementation, the infrastructure projects on the Duterte watch will commence over the next few months.

“This shovel ready project was approved in the first 18 months of the Duterte administration. It demonstrates the political will to get things done,” the finance chief said.

“This administration brooks no delay in building the projects that the people need and the public deserves,” Dominguez said.

“The infra investments will underpin all efforts to build an economy truly beneficial to all Filipinos. They will drive our economic growth and disperse the fruits of modernization to areas outside Metro Manila,” added Dominguez.

This venture is among the first big-ticket infra projects to be built using the Duterte administration’s “hybrid” PPP (Public-Private Partnership) formula, in which the government starts the initial phase of the project’s construction and later bids out the project to the private sector.

The Clark airport expansion project is listed as a “locally funded-Public Private Partnership” project in the build.gov.ph website.

Dominguez, who represented the economic team at the groundbreaking rites for the new passenger terminal of the Clark airport, cited the importance of the project in completing the infrastructure network in Central Luzon, and capturing what the “Build, Build, Build” program aims to achieve, which is to put up a “coherent national logistics circuit” in support of rapid and inclusive growth.

He noted that the Clark complex serves as the nexus of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) and the projected Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Aurora Expressway (TNEAEX), comprising an economic zone that will eventually be serviced by rail from Manila and, if feasible, possibly also by a passenger fast rail system.

“The improvement of the passenger terminal will complete the synergy of all the infrastructure investments made in this region. That captures what the Build, Build, Build program aspires to achieve: a coherent national logistics circuit that will support our country’s rapid and inclusive development,” Dominguez said.

Also at the groundbreaking rites were former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and other members of the House of Representatives; Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea; Secretary Arthur Tugade; Senators Joseph Ejercito and Richard Gordon; Governors Lilia Pineda of Pampanga and Susan Yap of Tarlac; and the city mayors of Pampanga.

Other officials also present were chairman Gregorio Garcia and president and CEO Vivencio Dizon of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA); acting president and CEO Alex Cauguiran of the Clark International Airport; president and CEO Noel Manankil of the Clark Development Corporation; chairman and CEO Edgar Saavedra of Megawide; and chairman and CEO Puvan Sripathy of the GMR Group.

Dominguez said that following the start of the construction for the Clark airport passenger terminal, other “economically strategic projects” worth a total of P1 trillion under the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” program are also scheduled to break ground soon enough.

“The NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) has approved P1 trillion in infra projects as we speak today. We have planned for an expansive infra program that will require about P8 trillion by 2022,” he said.

Designed to handle up to 8 million passengers per year, the P12.55 billion Clark airport expansion project will complement the operations of the already congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport and effectively serve as the second airport for Central and Northern Luzon, two of the fastest growing regions in the country today, Dominguez said.

Dominguez noted that unlike the NAIA whose expansion has become severely limited by urban sprawl, the Clark Civil Aviation Complex here spans 2,367 hectares, making it an ideal site to grow the country’s airline servicing capabilities.