Malaysia offers to help develop Clark Green City
BESIDES the Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans, Malaysian investors are also bullish about prospects in the Philippines, offering to help develop the sprawling Clark Green City, the country’s chief economist said on Monday.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Malaysian investors had proposed to organise 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.
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, the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority signed an agreement with Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp for Transport and Urban Development (Join) to form a joint venture that would craft a detailed master plan for Clark Green City.
Under the agreement, the authority will hold 45 per cent while Join will control 55 per cent of the joint venture.
The agreement is expected to help facilitate the entry of Japanese investments in the power, transportation and industrial sectors at the upcoming metropolis.
In a presentation to businessmen, Pernia noted “strong expressions of funding support for the country’s massive infrastructure build-up 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 US$500-million (Bt17.4 billion) 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.
