CLARK FREEPORT – With a boast of P2.27-billion unprecendented cash position, the government-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which runs this freeport has constructed a brand new P4.6-million toilet at the historic parade grounds here, just in time for hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit later this month.
The toilet with showers was among the projects named by CDC President- CEO Arthur Tugade already finished for the hosting of 1,700 senior ministers and delegates to the APEC summit which starts Jan. 21.
Socials for the APEC participants are reportedly slated at a section of the 20-hectare parade grounds where the new world-class toilet has been finished. Details on the toilet were not immediately available, but a worker said that each of the sections for male and female had two bowls.
Tugade, in a recent meeting with officers of the Capampangans in Media, Inc. (CAMI), said that the parade grounds have also been layered with rubberized pathways which have also been fitted with LED lights on posts. “There should be not only substantive results but also good memories and impression of the places where they (APEC activities) are held,” he said.
The parade grounds are the first site to host the Americans forces as horse-riding cavalries then known as Fort Stotsenberg in 1901. The construction of the ew toilet with shower has been hailed as a “needed project,” as the grounds often serve as venue for various international, national and local sports activities.
It is the first such structure to be built in the site. APEC organizing committee released a schedule of activities indicating that some 1,700 APEC participants here are to hold a total of 43 meetings, or an average of eight to 10 meetings daily for the duration of their summit lasting up to Feb. 7.
Tugade also said that “articulated buses” are to roam the roads of this freeport to transport APEC participants to various points. He bared plans to adopt this system beyond the APEC summit. The CDC has also established for the first time a CCTV command center along with a system of cameras that monitor gates and other sections of this freeport.
Tugade said foreign delegates to APEC are to be billeted in hotels within this freeport for security reasons, while their Filipino counterparts could be accommodated in hotels in nearby Angeles and other cities.
He also reported that the management of Fontana Leisure Estate is now ready with a new convention center “without any pillar in the middle” as specified in APEC requirements. The center can accommodate as many as 2,000 people.
The APEC sessions are to be closed door events, but that there would be a center for media at the Mimosa Convention Center about two kilometers away, he added.
Tugade said the first senior finance officers meetings are to be held from Jan. 21 to 22 at the Holiday Inn hotel, to be followed by more meetings starting Jan. 26 up to Feb. 7. Tugade reported that in 2014, the CDC earned P1.39 billion and now has a cash position of P2.27 billion.
