THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will spend at least $15 million in converting a 19-hectare strip inside the Subic Bay Freeport into a leisure and tourism center.

Armand Arreza, SBMA administrator, said once the agency begins to market it to locators, including top Las Vegas-based gaming operators, SBMA could easily attract up to $3 billion in fresh investments in return.

Arreza said SBMA will be using the $15 million in laying the foundation of the transformation of the Freeport’s Gateway district into a commercial, leisure, entertainment and tourism hub.

Part of this, he said, will go to the road layout of the area.

SBMA is now finishing the master planning part and redevelopment will materialize in 2009 and 2010, he said.

Arreza said SBMA will raise the seed funding for the redevelopment of the Gateway district without resorting to borrowing.

Sen. Richard Gordon, who is the first chairman of the SBMA, said he will help the agency talk to prospective locators, including big-time casino operators in Las Vegas.

“I’ll be going to the US to attract casino operators to locate to Subic,” Gordon told reporters Monday night.

Gordon said he believes that Subic is an ideal site for gaming and entertainment as tourists can easily get there either via the Clark or Subic airports and then avoid the hassles of traffic.

He said he will then talk to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to issue up to three casino licenses to the area.

Gordon said Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, for one, has already expressed interest in Subic, especially if it would involve big development.

Arreza said there is a huge potential market for gaming and entertainment in Subic, especially with China only a mere three-hour plane ride away.

COMBINED new investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) went up by 28.67 percent to P349.08 billion in 2007, thanks to a late surge in project registrations in the last two months of the year.

PHILIPPINE Airlines (PAL) is withholding plans to expand its United States (US) route, the flag carrier’s single-biggest revenue maker at 30 percent, after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the country’s aviation safety to Category 2.

THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will spend at least $15 million in converting a 19-hectare strip inside the Subic Bay Freeport into a leisure and tourism center.

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—After the hardware, here comes the software.

Subic shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. is now putting up a research and development (R&D) project here, apparently to speed up its shipbuilding program in the free port and broaden its exposure in the local maritime industry.

ADMINISTRATION Sen. Miguel Zubiri is challenging fellow Sen. Miriam Santiago and other biofuel pessimists to a debate when Congress resumes session on January 28 even as Zubiri charged that three big oil firms are fueling a strong lobby against full implementation of the country’s biofuels program.