Thursday, December 7, 2017

Duterte: Manila will be a ‘dead city’ in 25 years

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said Manila will be a “dead city in 25 years” as he lamented the worsening traffic situation in the capital and moved for the development of other potential urban hubs outside Metro Manila.

In a speech in Pampanga, Duterte said it is important to develop other industrial areas in the country as Metro Manila would no longer be a viable destination for investment.

“It is very important that we disperse the industries because Manila, in about 25 years, will be a dead city. It will start to decay and there is no way we can rehabilitate the place,” Duterte said during his speech at the Kapampangan Food Festival in Pampanga’s Clark Freeport Zone.

“You have to disperse the crowd, limit the factories sometime in the future. Ten years from now, close Manila and start to develop other places. Manila is no longer an option for industries,” said Duterte, a long-time Davao City mayor who is pushing for federalism in a bid to promote countryside development.

READ: Traffic to cost PH P6-B a day in 2030: JICA

According to the President, Clark will be the country's next industrial hub.

“The most important was ibinigay sa iyo ang Clark for you to manage and make use of. Clark is a very important destination now,” he said.

The administration is embarking on an ambitious P8-trillion infrastructure program to improve mobility in the Philippine capital and build more road networks and other infrastructure around the country.

Among projects under Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program are the Mega Manila Subway, which is partly funded by Japan, the Mindanao Railway Project, Malolos-Clark Railway Project, the LRT-1 North Extension Project, and the expansion of the Clark International Airport.

READ: 'Build build build' to accelerate in 2nd half, gov't says

No comments:

Post a Comment