Malaysia Offers To Develop Philippines First Smart, Disaster Proof Clark Green City
Besides the Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans, Malaysian
investors are also upbeat about prospects in the Philippines, offering to help
develop the sprawling Clark Green City, the country’s chief economist said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said
Malaysian investors had proposed to organize the government institutions that
would set up shop at the 9,450-hectare Clark Green City, which will be the
country’s first smart, disaster-resilient and green metropolis spanning towns
in Pampanga and Tarlac.
Secretary Pernia, who heads the state planning agency
National Economic and Development Authority, said the Malaysian proposal was to
help plan Clark Green City similar to Putrajaya, which serves as Malaysia’s
federal administrative capital.
Last year, state-run Bases Conversion and Development
Authority signed an agreement with Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment
Corp for Transport and Urban Development to form a joint venture that
would craft a detailed master plan for Clark Green City.
Under the agreement, the BCDA will hold 45 percent while
Join will control 55 percent of the joint-venture firm, which is expected to
help facilitate the entry of Japanese investments in the power, transportation
and industrial sectors at the upcoming metropolis.
In a presentation before businessmen, Secretary Pernia noted
of “strong expressions of funding support for the country’s massive
infrastructure buildup from bilateral and multilateral partners” such as China,
Japan, Malaysia, South Korea as well as the Manila-based Asian Development
Bank, the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the World
Bank.
The Philippine government already officially proposed to the
AIIB co-financing of a $500 million project aimed at preventing flooding in the
National Capital Region as documents showed that $150 million had been sought
for the Metro Manila Flood Management Project.
Last week, Secretary Pernia signed with China Commerce Vice
Minister Fu Ziying the six-year development program between the Philippines and
China aimed at promoting and steering “stable and orderly development of
economic cooperation between the two countries,” the Department of Finance
said.
The program is also aimed at “enlarging the scope and
enhancing the level of cooperation between, and driving sustainable and
inclusive socioeconomic development in the two countries.”
Also during the sidelines of China Vice Premier Wang Yang’s
visit to Davao City over the weekend, the Philippine and Chinese governments
firmed up funding through concessional loans and grants from the latter for the
conduct of feasibility studies for two big-ticket infrastructure projects.
“Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Fu, who is
also China’s international trade representative, formalized the agreement on
the conduct of preliminary feasibility studies for the proposed Davao City
Expressway and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project through an
exchange of letters after last Friday’s meeting between Philippine and Chinese
officials,” the DOF said.
Source: INQUIRER
Malaysia Offers To Develop Philippines First Smart, Disaster Proof Clark Green City
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November 23, 2017
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