NEW CLARK CITY, Tarlac — About 500,000 housing units are set to be constructed and developed by Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) inside New Clark City (NCC) in Tarlac.
This, after DHSUD and BCDA inked a Memorandum of Understanding in response to the call for support of the current administration to its priority program dubbed as Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) Program.
4PH targets to construct one million housing units every year until the end of the six-year term of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar underscored the potential of NCC in providing homes to Filipinos while spurring economic growth in the region, and addressing the problem of congested cities.
“This could be the answer to decongestion of surrounding highly-urbanized areas, and tapping the full economic potential of NCC by putting up residential structures, hence, the populace,” he stressed.
Such economic potential, according to Acuzar, could be unlocked by encouraging people to avail the housing and residential facilities of the government.
“There are already government facilities here, we only need to bring in population to spur economic activities. And by putting up decent affordable and sustainable housing units, surely, we will attract home buyers,” he noted.
Residents and workers in Clark are expected to benefit from the 4PH Program, along with the families affected by government projects in NCC, government employees and uniformed personnel.
Acuzar also thanked BCDA for its support to the government’s endeavor to build safe, convenient and decent homes for Filipino families, and vowed DHSUD’s commitment to the realization of the 4PH Program in NCC.
Meanwhile, BCDA Chairperson Delfin Lorenzana backed NCC, with its strategic location and vast lands, as an ideal site for the administration’s housing program.
For his part, BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Joshua Bingcang expressed his confidence in the township development, adding that the NCC could accommodate roughly 1.2 million Filipinos once completed.
“With the DHSUD as our partner, the BCDA is confident that we will be able to provide future residents with integrated, people-centered, and sustainable mixed-use developments where they can live comfortably,” Bingcang noted.
Follow-up meetings are set in the coming days between top DHSUD and BCDA officials to explore the plan. (CLJD/TJBM-PIA 3)