By Prince Golez
President Ferdinand Marcos reiterated the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a “central part” of his government’s economic policy in a meeting with officials of China Communications Construction Co. Ltd (CCCC) in Malacañang Monday.
“It can be of any nature – commercial venture or joint venture with a local partner. Of course, the PPP, where you have partnership with the government, even G2G — government-to-government arrangements — are also something that we have been doing for a long time and again that we wish to further,” Marcos said in a news release.
The President said the government has changed the regulations and rules for the establishment of PPPs to make it more attractive for private corporations to come into the Philippines and work with the government and that his administration will not limit these partnerships to just PPPs.
He also hoped that the CCCC could assist the Philippines in carrying out projects that ensure environmental sustainability in the face of climate change threats.
For its part, the Chinese state-owned enterprise committed more investments to the Philippines as it proposed proposed the construction of the 270-km Laoag City-Rosario City Highway Project and the introduction of Juncao technology to the Philippines.
The CCCC plans to build a Juncao Technology Demonstration Center and a Juncao Industrial Park for Juncao grass cultivation and processing.
Juncao is a hybrid of the Giant Napier Grass developed by the Fujian Agriculture and Forest University from eight different grasses through tissue culture.
The proposed Juncao technology project, once approved, will be funded through Chinese foreign aid.
The CCCC officials also updated Marcos Jr. on their ongoing infrastructure projects in the Philippines, including the Samal Island-Davao City Connector Project and North & South Harbor Bridge, among others.
The CCCC is mainly engaged in transportation infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and railways, with more than 60 wholly owned subsidiaries operating in more than 150 countries and regions.
Aside from government projects, the CCCC is also involved in ongoing private-led reclamation projects in Metro Manila, such as the Pasay Harbor City Reclamation Project and Manila Waterfront City Development Project.
