Surbana Jurong has signed a memorandum of cooperation with two partners to develop New Clark City in the Philippines.
New Clark City has been touted as the first "smart, green, disaster-resilient city", and is among the biggest projects in President Rodrigo Duterte's ambitious 8 trillion peso (S$204 billion) "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure programme.
It will be bigger than Manhattan when completed in 30 to 40 years' time, with a population of about two million, and is expected to contribute about 1.57 trillion pesos a year to the Philippines' national economy.
Surbana Jurong inked the agreement with the Philippines' Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (Join).
Under the agreement, Surbana Jurong will assist BCDA and Join in drafting the development management framework, design standard guidelines and environmental guidelines to complement the masterplan of New Clark City, it said in a joint statement yesterday.
The Temasek Holdings-owned company will also help in utilising public-private partnerships to entice investors to New Clark City.
Surbana Jurong will also advise in the implementation plan of pioneer developers in New Clark City, such as Filinvest Land's mixed-use industrial real estate developments and MTD Capital Berhad's National Government Administrative Centre.
It will establish the framework of a Smart City concept that will have fully integrated infrastructure and utilities for power, water, sewerage, information and communications technology, security, and traffic management.
Surbana Jurong group chief executive Wong Heang Fine said the group will leverage its 50 or so years of urban and infrastructure development expertise and its global capabilities to manage the development of the city.
He noted that New Clark City has "tremendous potential", and the transformation of the area will bring about sustainable growth and create jobs locally, and ultimately bring about long-lasting economic and social benefits for the country.
Meanwhile, Join president and chief executive Takuma Hatano said the Manila-Clark Railway (PNR North Railway) project - as part of efforts to develop New Clark City - will immensely benefit commuters, cutting down travel time from Manila to Clark to an hour, from the current two to three hours.
The 106km alignment will connect Tutuban in Manila to the Clark International Airport and New Clark City. It is designed to accommodate about 350,000 passengers per day. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2021.
The 9,450ha New Clark City is envisioned to be a new metropolis that will rise in the Clark Special Economic Zone, in the towns of Capas and Bamban in Tarlac.
The city will feature mixed-use real estate developments for housing, a business continuity centre that would also house national government agencies, an agro-industrial park and an international food market.
It will have wide pedestrian lanes, exclusive bicycle lanes and an integrated mass transit lane.
The first phase of the project is slated to be completed in 2022.
