“It is a major development,” said Clark International Airport Corporation President and CEO Victor Jose I. Luciano of the $1.025 billion Global Gateway Logistics City that will be located in a 167-hectare area of the Clark Civil Aviation Complex, currently the only remaining area where logistics operators and aviation leaders in the ASEAN region can possibly break ground for their expansion projects.
The Global Gateway Logistics City will be established by the Kuwait Gulf and Link and is expected to generate 70,000 jobs. That’s more than the 40,000 direct and indirect workers employed by the former US-run Clark Air Base and the number does not represent the workers in the Clark Freeport Zone.
The creation of a world-class logistics and services hub had been envisioned by no less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the dynamic convergence of two growth centers in Central Luzon – the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and the Subic Freeport Zone. The two economic generators are linked by the modern Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
President Arroyo was obviously happy about the development of the logistics and services hub in Clark where she and Luciano recently broke ground with Kuwaiti dignitaries for the establishment of the Logistics City. Both Luciano and EVP/COO Alexander S. Cauguiran exerted their best efforts in assuring the realization of the logistics project in support of President Arroyo.
Luciano said that logistics leaders in Asia such as Singapore are too congested and that multinational corporations can now look into the Global Gateway Logistics City which has a wide area. Singapore and Hong Kong are competing in the logistics industry. The first stage of the project will reportedly cost $25 million for the development of infrastructure such as roads, lights, fence, landscape, sidewalks, utilities, and access points. The second stage will cost about $1 billion for the construction of facilities and buildings.
The construction of the KGL project will take at least 24 months and the construction of the facilities and buildings within the timeframe of seven years. The project will be an aviation-related and dependent businesses including but not limited to warehousing, distribution, multi-nodal logistics, light manufacturing alongside complementary business operations and facilities to support aviation-related activities within the Civil Aviation Complex of the airport.
KGL investment company is an international alternative investment firm engaged in private equity; venture capital and investment banking. It is a global leader with over 50 years of experience in transportation, logistics, stevedoring, passenger transport, warehousing, supply chain management and port operations. KGL’s current operations include Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Tunisia, Oman, Namibia, Morroco, Pakistan, Germany, Ireland, Cayman, Mauritius and Egypt.
CIAC have started plans for the development of the Terminal 2 project for DMIA which aims to increase passenger capacity to 7 to 8 million annually.
