To Rise $14 Billion USD "Pollution Free" Hi-tech City of New Clark, Philippines' 95 Km Sq size

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

The Philippines is planning a $14 billion 'pollution-free' city that will be larger than Manhattan

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 be 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.

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

BCDA Group Source: CNBC

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

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.

BCDA Group Source: The Inquirer

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

BCDA Group

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

BCDA Group

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

BCDA Group

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

BCDA Group - Source: Reuters

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

BCDA Group 

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

BCDA Group 

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

BCDA Group 

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

BCDA Group 

A new railway line could reduce the travel time between the two cities in half.

In late May, BCDA started the bidding process for companies to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain power and water systems in New Clark City.

BCDA Group 

The Philippines also struggles with economic development, and building an eco-city from scratch will come with a hefty price tag.

BCDA Group 

According to Wong, public-private partnerships will help finance the project.

BCDA Group 

In recent years, countries around the world — especially China — have unveiled plans for pie-in-the-sky urban developments.

BCDA Group 

Building cities from scratch rarely solve existing problems, but designing them can help urban planners imagine what's possible.

The fate of this project is still in the hand of the Duterte Administration as Budget is always required, though this project is feasible but priorities are also queuing.

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Solar Philippines Breakground $150 Million USD Solar Farm in Tarlac

At the ceremonial groundbreaking of the 150-MW Tarlac solar farm, with the first ‘Made in the Philippines’ panels by Solar Philippines are (from left): Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste, Tarlac Governor Susan Yap and Concepcion Mayor Andy Lacson Photo: PhilSTAR

Solar pioneer starts 150-MW Tarlac solar farm

Solar Philippines has kicked off the construction of its 150-megawatt (MW) solar farm with battery storage here, its largest solar power project to-date, which can provide the province’s requirements in six months time, its top official said yesterday.

The whole solar farm will start operating as a merchant plant in the third quarter of the year, Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the project.

“The output of the 150 MW plant that will be operating here by the second half of 2017 will be able to power the entire Tarlac province with cheap renewable energy,” he said.

The company official said this will heed Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi’s call to put up more merchant power plants – or those generating facilities selling their output to the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) – to further spur competition in the electricity spot market.

“What we want is to make this fast…(because) solar is now cheaper than coal and therefore get this online within 2017. And that’s why even without the contract finally approved by regulators, we’re doing this for most of the plant’s capacity,” Leviste said.

The Concepcion solar farm will comprise close to 450,000 solar panels and over 150 hectares, with room to expand as demand for solar with batteries increases.

Leviste said the cost to put up the solar farm is equivalent to $1 million per megawatt, or roughly $150 million for the entire project.

“With the battery… it can be an additional 20-50 percent of the cost of the project. But we’re not doing all the batteries all at once, it’s going to be phased incrementally,” he said.

Solar Philippines is the developer, investor, contractor and supplier for its projects – a strategy which the company believes is the key to making solar cost-competitive.

“Why do we expect lower price? One is vertical integration, by doing solar panel manufacturing in-house as well as the construction. the development, the financing will definitely lower the cost. Second is the economies of scale,” Leviste said.

Once completed, the power plant will have many firsts in its name - philSTAR

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Baguio Philippines' Temperature Dropped Down 8 Degree Celsius, Winter-like uptown

Baguio Philippines' Coldest Temperature Dropped Down 8 Degree Celsius 5:00 AM 15th February 2017. Photo: Inquirer 

Cold, cold Valentine’s Day as mercury dips in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY—Residents woke up on Valentine’s Day looking forward to a day of warmth, only to be greeted by the coldest morning yet this year as the mercury dropped to 8 degrees Celsius at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

School children and office workers were in thick jackets, woolen sweaters and scarves as they streamed out of their homes between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. due to the bitter cold.
“My children refused to take a bath. It was too cold,” said a mother in San Luis village here. “It was so cold I could not even wash the dishes.”

Tuesday was the coldest day so far in 2017, following the 9.2-degree temperature on Sunday and the 9.4 degrees on Monday, said Aljon Tamondong, Baguio weather observer of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) station here.
Tuesday’s cold weather exceeded the 8.1-degrees-Celsius temperature reading on Jan. 18, 2014, Tamondong said.

The cold spell was not over and the temperature dropped further due to the cold front, he said.
He said the Jan. 15, 2009, temperature, when this mountain resort city experienced 7.5 degrees Celsius, might be broken if the trend continued.

The coldest day on record in Baguio was still Jan. 18, 1961, when the summer capital experienced 6.3-degree weather. People who remembered that day described it as their closest approximation of winter.

The chill thrilled businessmen and flower vendors.

“Yearly, without fail, when news reports dramatize temperature drops to those levels, tourists flock to Baguio to experience that weather. This is always a boost for tourism of Baguio,” said Frederico Alquiros, cochair of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc., which is staging the Panagbenga grand parades next week.

“Panagbenga being in February, capitalizes on this weather,” he said.
Temperatures in upland towns like Atok and Buguias in Benguet province are usually colder than Baguio.

Atok residents described the weather condition in the town as if they were “freezing,” although there were no signs of moisture frosting up the leaves of vegetables grown in gardens, said Atok Mayor Peter Alos.

Pagasa monitored on Tuesday the lowest temperatures in the country since the northeast monsoon season—locally known as “amihan”—began in November.

The Pagasa said that aside from Baguio, the lowest temperatures were observed from 4 to 6 a.m. on Tuesday in the following areas: Tanay, Rizal, at 14.3 degrees; Malaybalay, Bukidnon, at 15.8 degrees; Itbayat, Batanes, at 16.5 degrees, and Basco, Batanes, Tuguegarao, Cagayan, and Ambolong, Batangas at 17 degrees.

Metro Manila also experienced one of its coldest days at 19.2 degrees, although a 19-degree temperature was already monitored in January.

“This is the lowest recorded temperatures since the northeast monsoon started in November. We’re seeing a surge in the monsoon; that’s also why we have gale warnings hoisted over some parts of the country,” Pagasa assistant weather services chief Renito Paciente told the Inquirer.—REPORTS FROM GOBLETH MOULIC, KIMBERLIE QUITASOL, VINCENT CABREZA AND JAYMEE T. GAMIL

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Senator Santiago backs Ombudsman, SC: "Gobenciong case" - Binay should leave Makati City hall

Mayor Junjun Binay vs Senator Miriam Santiago- Politics.com

Ombudsman not liable for acting quickly on Mayor Binay suspension—Santiago

MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and other concerned officials were not liable for immediately implementing the suspension order on Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said on Wednesday.

Santiago was reacting to a contempt case filed by Binay against the Ombudsman and other officials for defying a temporary restraining order issued by the Court of Appeals on his suspension. It was the Office of the Ombudsman that issued the preventive suspension order on Binay in connection with the allegedly anomalous Makati City Hall 2 carpark building.

But Santiago pointed out that in the 2008 case of Gobenciong v. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court ruled: “The Office of the Ombudsman can, as a matter of statutory empowerment, validly order the immediate execution of a preventive suspension after determining the propriety of the imposition, regardless of the remedy of reconsideration made available under the law to the suspended respondent.”

“Thus, the Ombudsman can order the immediate suspension of a sitting mayor, who is not allowed to plead that he needs time to file a motion for reconsideration,” the senator said in a statement.

Santiago said that in the Gobenciong case, the high tribunal rejected the argument that the sitting official was denied due process of law, just because the suspension was immediately implemented.

“In the Gobenciong case, the Supreme Court said there was no legal basis for the argument that immediate implementation of the preventive suspension would deny due process. In fact, the Supreme Court added that since preventive suspension is not a penalty for an administrative offense, preventive suspension can be imposed without prior hearing,” she said.

The SC, she said, denied the motion to cite the Ombudsman in contempt on the ground that it had “become moot and academic for the preventive suspension had been served.”

Under the Gobenciong ruling, Santiago said the Ombudsman could not be held in indirect contempt because under the Rules of Court there was no “disobedience of or resistance to a lawful writ of a court.”

“A contempt order usually arises according to the Rules of Court for ‘any improper conduct tending, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice.’ It is not the case,” she said.

But Santiago also pointed to a 2011 case, Strategic Alliance Development Corp. v. Star Infrastructure Development Corp. where the Supreme Court held: “Although the general rule is to the effect that a writ of preliminary injunction cannot be issued against acts already fait accompli it has been held, however, that consummated acts which are continuing in nature may still be enjoined by the courts.”

She said this “apparent collision” between the 2008 Gobenciong case and the 2011 Strategic Alliance case should be resolved by the Court of Appeals.

One of the petitioners, she said, might also elevate the case on a petition for review on certiorari concerning a question of law to the Supreme Court, which has discretion on whether to pass upon the petition. - INQUIRER

 

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