Chinese firm eyes more infra projects in PH

National flags are placed outside a room where Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and China’s Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng address reporters after their meeting in Beijing, China, January 23, 2017. (REUTERS FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday met with the top officials of the state-owned China Communications Construction Co. Ltd (CCCC), a major contractor of numerous projects for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Marcos met at the Palace with top CCCC officials led by its chair Wang Tongzhou and discussed infrastructure projects in the country and plans for agricultural projects.

The CCCC has committed more investments to the Philippines particularly through public-private partnership (PPP) following the president’s state visit to China this month.

The CCCC officials, according to the PCO, proposed the construction of the 270-kilometer Laoag City-Rosario City Highway Project and the introduction of China’s Juncao technology to the Philippines.

The CCCC proposed 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 types of grass through tissue culture. Once approved, the proposed Juncao technology project would be funded through Chinese foreign aid.

The CCCC officials also updated the President on its ongoing infrastructure projects in the Philippines, including the Samal Island-Davao City Connector and the North and South Harbor Bridge projects, among others.

For his part, the President said the central part of his government’s economic policy is the establishment, endorsement, and promotion of PPPs, in which the CCCC could participate.

He pointed out that the government has changed the rules and regulations for the PPPs to make them more attractive to foreign corporations, adding that these partnerships would not be limited to just PPPs.

“It can be of any nature – commercial venture or joint venture with a local partner. Of course, the PPP, where you have partnership with government, even G2G (government-to-government arrangement) are also something that we have been doing for a long time and again that we wish to further,” Marcos said.