Philippine firms secure over $11B deals during China trip

BEIJING – The Philippines secured $11.24 billion worth of investments from Chinese companies involving 17 different projects as a testament to the warming economic relations between Manila and Beijing.

A total of 15 companies yesterday signed agreements with various Chinese investors in the fields of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and disaster resiliency.

These projects are estimated to generate 2.67 million jobs.

MVP Global Infrastructure Group, for one, inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China Railway Engineering Corp. involving a $2.5 billion project.  It also forged a $3 billion deal with Suli Group Ltd. to build a cabling manufacturing facility.

China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. agreed to invest both in Mega Harbour Port Development Inc.’s $780 million Davao Coastline and Port Development Project, and R-II Builders’ $148 million Manila Harbour Centre Reclamation Project.

Mega Harbour also secured a deal with CCCC Dredging Co. for the $328 million Cebu International and Bulk Terminal Project.

Philippine State Group of Co. signed an agreement with Yangtse Motor Group Co. Ltd. and Minerals International Ltd. for the $100 million Manila EDSA Bus Transportation program.

Both Mannage Resources Trading Corp. and Global Ferronickel Inc. also signed their respective agreements for the construction of steel manufacturing plants.

In the field of renewable energy, Trademaster Resources Corp., and Greenergy Development Corp., signed deals to construct renewable energy plants.

Greenergy, in particular, will be cooperating with Guizhou Engineering Corp. and PowerChina for the $1 billion 300-megawatt Pulangi-5 hydro project.

For agriculture,  SL Agritech Corp. and Jiangsu Hongqi Seed Co. Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement to build a $160 million hybrid rice to plant in two million hectares of rice farming area.

AVLB Asia Pacific Conglomerate also secured a $100 million investment from Shangai Xinwo Agriculture Development Co. for a banana plantation project.

SinoHydro invested both in the $600 million Pasig River-Marikina River Manggahan Floodway Bridges Construction Project by Zonar Construct, and the $325 Ambal Simuay Sub-River Basin of the Mindanao River Basin Flood Control Project by One White Beach Land Development Corp.

Beijing and Manila also signed government-to-government MOUs on different areas of development.

According to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, all these agreements resulted in a total of $13.5 billion investment commitment from China. He said this is the biggest amount of pledges secured by the government in any state visit.

The Department of Tourism reported that some Chinese businessmen have already signified their intent to invest in tourism development projects in the Philippines.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said one of the richest real estate tycoons in China has already discussed with the DOT its plan to build a township project in the Philippines.

The township will be an integrated complex, with seaports, airports, malls, hotels, resorts and theme parks.

Teo, however, did not disclose the location of the project.

“They have already identified the land, but they are still working on it so (the DOT) will be helping them on that,” Teo said.

Teo said the project, which would take two years to complete, would entail a “very big investment.”

Meanwhile, Clarence Chung, chairman and president of Melco Crown Philippines, said the company was looking at expanding its business in the country.

Melco Crown is the owner and operator of integrated resort, City of Dreams located at the Entertainment City in Parañaque City.

“We’re looking at investment opportunities in the Philippines. We have built a very nice property City of Dreams in Manila and with the good opportunities coming we’ll always look into those opportunities,” Chung said in an interview.