CIAC to build P8.5-B food hub to open early 2026

The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) will open by the first quarter of 2026 the public bidding for the construction of a P8.5-billion food hub that is expected to open the first phase in 2027.

CIAC corporate planning manager Melissa Feliciano, on the sidelines of the Philippines Logistics Summit 2025, said they are finalizing the engineering design and bidding documents of the Clark National Food Hub this year.

“We are already working on the design of the facility so that when the funding comes out by January, we’re ready to start the construction of the project,” Feliciano said. “Hopefully, as early as 2027, you’ll see the first few buildings coming up for the food hub,” she added.

The first phase includes administrative offices, cold storage facilities and trading markets for wholesalers. The second phase will take five years of construction thereafter or until 2032. This segment will provide space for food manufacturing and packaging.

The hub is a 62-hectare facility at the Clark civil aviation complex.

“What we’re trying to immediately address would be the food wastage. Currently, we’re [losing] about 50 percent of our produce. It gets lost in transportation,” Feliciano said.

For operations and maintenance, the CIAC official said they would tap a separate entity with expertise in handling a food hub.

Last year, CIAC signed a technical advisory services agreement with the Public-Private Partnership Center of Philippines and the Asian Development Bank to work on the project feasibility study.

Aside from the food hub, in the pipeline of CIAC projects are the World Convention and Events Hub, New CIAC Headquarters and the Urban Renewal and Heritage Conservation Project.

The Clark International Airport saw its passenger volume grow by 20 percent to 2.4 million last year, 65 percent of which were accounted for by international travelers.

This year, the airport is expected to accommodate around 3.3 million to 3.4 million passengers given the anticipated increase in flight activities with the transfer of turboprop operations from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.