A rendering of New Clark, a planned city for the Philippines. BCDA Group

Manila, the hyper-dense capital of The Philippines, is known for its traffic jams. In a 2016 survey, navigation company Waze ranked Manila as having the “worst traffic on Earth.” The city’s reliance on cars also exacerbates its growing air-pollution problem.

As a possible solution to Manila’s smog and gridlock, the country plans to build an entirely new, more sustainable city called New Clark.

Plans for the $14 billion development — which will measure larger than Manhattan — call for drones, driverless cars, technologies that will reduce buildings’ water and energy usage, a giant sports complex, and plenty of green space.

Take a look below.

Over the next three decades, the Philippines aims to build out New Clark about 75 miles outside Manila.

Source: CNBC

According to the development’s plan, the city will eventually stretch 36 square miles — a land area larger than Manhattan — and house up to 2 million people.

Source: The Inquirer

New Clark will be divided into five districts, each with a specific function: government, business, education, agriculture, and recreation.

 
While New Clark’s exact design is not fleshed out, developers say the urban plan will prioritize environmental sustainability and climate resilience.

 
With a minimum elevation of 184 feet above sea level, the city will likely not see much flooding.

To reduce carbon emissions, two-thirds of New Clark will be reserved for farmland, parks, and other green space.

Source: Reuters

The buildings will incorporate technologies that reduce energy and water usage.

Driverless cars, running on electric energy rather than CO2-emitting gas, will roam the streets.

Additionally, the city will feature a giant sports stadium and an agro-industrial park.

New Clark’s developers, BCDA Group and Surbana Jurong, plan to start construction in 2022.

The new city will serve as a “twin city” to Manila, alleviating congestion in the capital, Surbana Jurong CEO Heang Fine Wong told CNBC.

People shop ahead of New Year celebrations at a street market in Divisoria, Manila, Philippines, December 29, 2017. Source: CNBC

“You’ll gradually see Manila becoming a different type of city … and in New Clark City, you’ll see new technology companies coming through,” he said.

A view of a busy street at the Mall of Asia Arena on November 27, 2014 in Manila, Philippines. Getty Images/Clive Brunskill.

The vision for New Clark certainly sounds utopian.

But the ambitious plan faces several challenges, including persuading Manila residents to move there. A new railway line could reduce the travel time between the two cities in half.

The Philippines also struggles with economic development, and building an eco-city from scratch will come with a hefty price tag. According to Wong, public-private partnerships will help finance the project.

In recent years, countries around the world — especially China — have unveiled plans for pie-in-the-sky urban developments. A number of realized projects have failed to attract a significant population, and turned into ghost cities.

Construction sites and vacant streets in Xiangluo Bay, a new biggest central business district under construction in Tianjin. Zhang Peng/LightRocket via Getty Images

Yujiapu and Xiangluo Bay, a metro area that was supposed to be known as “China’s Manhattan,” is half-built and largely empty.
 
Building cities from scratch rarely solve existing problems, but designing them can help urban planners imagine what’s possible.

source: businessinsider.com

Continue Reading

Manila, Philippines – Maaaring umabot ng hanggang 40 percent ang dagdag-singil sa toll ng mga expressways gaya ng NLEX o at SCTEX o Subic – Clark – Tarlac Expressways.

Sa gitna ito ng inihaing petisyon sa toll regulatory board o TRB na taas singil sa mga expressway.

Pero nilinaw ni TRB Spokesman Bert Suansing, hindi pa nila inaaprubahan ang naturang hirit at dadaan pa ito sa masusing pag-aaral.

Tiniyak naman ni Suansing na magiging makatwiran ang ipapataw nilang dagdag singil para hindi ito maging mabigat sa bulsa ng mga motorista.

source: rmn.ph

Continue Reading

Over 70 kilos of garbage were collected during a clean up drive in Sta. Cruz, Zambales, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Friday.

Laudemir Salac, provincial chief of DENR in Zambales, said the collected trash from the two-kilometer shoreline of Sabang village includes biodegradable and non-biodegradable items, mostly plastics.

 
“Plastic pollution is a big threat to our marine resources and poses a serious danger to marine life. Animals can ingest plastic trash because they mistake it as preys or food, while others may have been broken down into tiny particles by seawater,” he said.

The bulk of the collected trash was composed of single-use plastics bags, bottle labels, diapers, food and candy wrappers, plastic bottles, cans, and straws.

Salac said the clean up drive was done to engage the community in protecting the marine environment by mitigating the threats of plastic pollution in the area.

He urged the public to reduce the use of plastic materials and recycle plastic wastes.

source: centralluzon.politics.com.ph

Continue Reading

Former Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambong Jr. has been appointed to the board of directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Macarambong, who endorsed President Duterte during the 2016 elections, will represent the business and investment sectors on the SBMA board until Sept. 22, 2022, according to the appointment papers signed by President Duterte on May 8.

Also appointed to the board for a six-year term was Rolando Ampunin. Virginia Orogo was named acting secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, while Eliseo Rio Jr. was named acting secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. — JULIE M. AURELIO

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Continue Reading

A US amphibious assault vehicle trundles past Philippine Marines taking position during a simulated beach landing as part of the annual Balikatan military exercises at a Navy training camp in San Antonio, Zambales yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines — Some 340 Filipino and American troops stormed and neutralized “enemy” positions along the coastline of San Antonio, Zambales yesterday.

By: Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star)

This was among the highlights of the Balikatan joint military exercises between the Philippines and US troops for this year.

Balikatan is the yearly joint military training carried out in the country under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the United States.

Balikatan-Philippines spokesperson Lt. Liezl Vidallon said 180 Filipino sailors and Marines took part in the coastal assault with around 160 American troops.

Three American amphibious assault vehicles and two landing craft from the Philippine Navy’s landing dock ship BRP Davao del Sur took part in the drill.

Providing extra muscle to the mock beachhead assault was the Navy’s frigate BRP Ramon Alcaraz.

Simultaneously hitting the beaches, combined Filipino and American troops engaged the “enemies” in close quarter battle in an urban setting.

The joint troops will also take part in live fire exercises in a gunnery range at Crow Valley in Tarlac, as well as land combat drills at the Army’s base in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.

Photo credi: Alvin Kasiban

A small number of troops from the Australian Defense Force (ADF) as well as those from Japan are also participating in this year’s land-based combat drill.

The decades-old tradition appeared headed for the history books last year as newly elected President Duterte pivoted toward China – and away from long-time Philippine ally the US.

But the number of troops taking part in the drills has increased by a third from last year to 8,000, a return to figures seen in years past when the exercises served as a thinly veiled deterrent to a rising China.
Duterte’s change of heart on the two-week Balikatan may be due to what experts see as careful efforts by the military to restrain their unpredictable president.

Photo credit: Alvin Kasiban

“The fact it’s being done under this administration means they (Duterte’s government) now have a better understanding of the security equation,” political analyst Victor Andres Manhit said.

Though the bulked-up maneuvers – including a live-fire component that was dropped last year – took place on a naval base just 180 kilometers east of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal that China has controlled since 2012, the drill’s leaders barely mentioned Beijing.

“We are an island nation. That’s why we need to improve our capabilities on amphibious operations,” Army Major General Emmanuel Salamat told reporters.

“We’re not concerned about Scarborough. We’re concerned about what we’re doing here.”

China claims most of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway believed to harbor significant oil and natural gas deposits, but this was ruled illegal in 2016 after Duterte’s predecessor Benigno Aquino III filed suit before an international maritime tribunal.

Duterte has since reversed course and set the ruling aside, along with long-simmering friction over competing claims to the waters, in order to court Chinese trade and investment.

He has also cut two major annual naval exercises with the US and last year reduced the Balikatan contingent to 5,400 US and Filipino troops.

The decision came at a low point for US-Philippine relations, when Duterte called the American ambassador “gay” and served notice that the 2017 edition would “be the last military exercise” with the United States. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, AFP

Source: philstar.com

Continue Reading