DUBAI: Renowned urban planners, among them Felino Palafox Jr. of Palafox and Associates, have identified at least nine “emerging cities” across the Philippines being developed to decongest Metro Manila.
These are Puerto Princesa in Palawan; Zamboanga, Clark and San Fernando in Pampanga; Laoag and Vigan in Ilocos; Legazpi in Albay; Balanga, Batangas, Lucena in Quezon; and Iloilo.
These cities were envisioned to undergo the next wave of growth “owing to their adequate infrastructure like international airports and seaports that could develop bigger opportunities for trade and tourism to generate employment, a healthy workforce, and efficient land use,” said a BusinessMirror report.
Davao and Cebu have gotten a good headstart and should now look at further developing mass transit, said the report.
Also notable are the ongoing Clark Global City project that will house an upgraded Clark International Airport which is seen to have an average of about 8,000 daily passengers from over 200 international and 400 domestic flights, the report further stated.
