BCDA, Japanese group to meet on Clark Green City investment plan

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Network (JOIN) are reviewing the development plan of Clark Green City and how the Japanese investors will position themselves in the area.

“We have a meeting this coming week, with JOIN looking at the strategy,” BCDA President and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova told reporters in Makati City on Tuesday.

BCDA and JOIN officials will review the master plan and assess where some Japanese companies may decide to put up shop.

“What we’re doing now is engaging the detailed master planner of the entire city for the development of the 288 [hectares], also identify the industrial estate area [where the Japanese investors are interested in],” he said.

The development of the 9,450-hectare Clark Green City will be done in phases, the first of which includes a 288-hectare site under a joint-venture agreement with Filinvest Land Inc.

The interest of Japanese firms to invest in the country is a “very strategic leverage” for the BCDA and the Philippines in terms of the political and economic ties with Japan, Casanova noted.

“The Japanese have been very optimistic about the Philippines... They look at the Philippines as a growth area and as a strong ally. We’re setting up the necessary framework where Japanese business can easily come in to the Philippines, particularly in Clark,” he said.

JOIN President and CEO Takuma Hatano earlier told reporters that some 20 Japanese companies were interested in Clark Green City.

“About 20 Japanese companies have asked for a special meeting with me. These are the biggest companies. Some of them are actually Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Sojitz, and other Japanese companies,” Casanova said

JOIN is a Japanese fund sponsored by the government and the private sector and specializes in overseas infrastructure investment. – VDS, GMA News