THE Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) and the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN) are eyeing to finish the detailed master plan mapping out the projects in Clark Green City (CGC) by year-end.
The two entities formed a joint-venture corporation to jump-start the development of the 9,450-hectare smart city.
The joint venture will be earmarking $2 million for the master plan, stakeholders said on Tuesday, at the sidelines of the NXCities International Conference held at Shangri-La at the Fort in Bonifacio Global City.
The joint venture will serve as the springboard for Japanese businesses and the government to fund and develop specific projects in Clark Green City. As a private company, it can spur further joint-venture agreements and partnerships with other interested firms.
JOIN has a 55-percent majority equity in the joint-venture corporation, with BCDA taking the minority stake of 45 percent.
The jointly funded master plan will cover all development within the city, including utilities, mass-transport system and telecommunications. “Hopefully, the master plan will be finished by the end of the year,” BCDA President and CEO Arnel Paciano D. Casanova told reporters. Casanova sees an influx of Japanese businesses participating in the development of the city, as the involvement of JOIN stands as a stamp of approval and endorsement of the Japanese government on the viability of the expansive project.
“With the partnership with JOIN, then all Japanese businesses and investors, even manufacturers in special economic zones, can be encouraged by their own government to go to Clark Green City,” he said.
A key component of this master plan is the Clark Rail Transit System, connecting Clark to Manila, whose project cost has already been tagged at a conservative $1.9 billion. “The funding for the Tutuban to Malolos section has already been secured by the Department of Transportation and Communications, so we are now aggressively pursuing to build the Malolos to Clark line,” the BCDA head noted.
However, bright as these prospects are, officials from both BCDA and JOIN are keeping mum on the foreseen investments to be brought in by future joint-venture partnerships in developing the city.
“We’re at the initial stages,” Casanova said, declining to cite an amount until the master plan is finished. “We have other projects that we’re looking at here in the Philippines, but this [CGC], is the largest. Other projects we’re looking at is with power,” added Takuma Hatano, JOIN president and CEO.
BCDA has already been approached by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, and has had talks with companies interested in power generation and industrial-estate development.
Casanova said the model being eyed in bidding out the development of the CGC is via private-public partnership.
BCDA has already bid out the first phase of CGC, a 288-hectare parcel of land out of the total 9,450 hectares, to Filinvest Land Inc.
JOIN is the first and only government private-sponsored fund in Japan that specializes in overseas infrastructure investment.
According to its web site, JOIN’s capital amounts to ¥21 billion as of January 2016.