|
THE
government is now in advanced negotiations with a huge
foreign firm that is keen on investing $1 billion for a
full-scale ecotourism project in Central Visayas.
Trade
Secretary Peter B. Favila refused to identify the
company, as the Philippines is still competing with
other countries for the investment at this time.
Favila
said the company might form a joint venture with a local
firm, so it could get its hands on an island in the
Visayas and convert it into a resort complete with all
the amenities and infrastructures needed like ports and
an airport.
“Just
imagine the kind of projects that it needs to do so it
could spend $1 billion,” Favila said.
The
firm, he said, has already picked a
Central Visayas island for the project.
President Arroyo, he said, met with the officials of
this company in a side event in the recent World
Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
This, he
said, is one of the companies being pursued by the
government for brandishing as “investment trophies.”
The
company that Favila mentioned could be one of the two
firms mentioned by Philippine Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (PCCI) president Samie Lim to reporters as
interested in having a stake in the country’s tourism
industry.
These
are the group of Al-Waleed Bin Tatal of the Middle East,
which recently acquired a stake in the Four Seasons
Hotel chain with billionaire Bill Gates, and the Shimao
Group of Hong Kong.
Lim said
it could be the Middle East group since it has secured
direct lines with President Arroyo.
The
Chinese firm, on the other hand, was hosted by the PCCI
in a cocktail for the Shanghai Business Club early this
month.
“We
gathered that they are looking at
Palawan, Bohol and Boracay
for the planned tourism project,” Lim said. |
