Marcos secures P86B investment deals during Australia visit
THE Philippine delegation led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has secured $1.53 billion, or P86 billion worth of investment, from 12 business deals inked during the Philippine Business Forum held on the sidelines of the Asean-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia.
In his speech during the forum on Monday, March 4, 2024, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Alfredo Pascual said the deals are expected to drive the investment relationships between the Philippines and Australia and contribute to Philippine economic growth.
The 12 deals are composed of 10 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and two letters of intent.
The two letters of intent cover the biomass-fueled (Thorium Pellets) Simple-high-Temperature Gas-cooled Power Plant (STGR20 V) with a 40MW base load power to deliver a safe, sustainable, affordable, CO2 neutral, green baseload energy in the Philippines, as well as for the development of digital health services with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to improve healthcare availability in the Philippines with a particular focus on tuberculosis and other respiratory illness, which is an expansion of the company’s current operations in the Philippines providing telemedicine services to millions of Filipinos.
The MOUs cover the development, design, construction, commissioning, and funding of a Tier-3 Data Center with a capacity of 30MW-40MW in the Poro Point Freeport Zone, with a land area of approximately 16 hectares; Expansion of Next-Generation Battery Manufacturing in the Philippines; deployment of decarbonization solutions comprising orchestration of renewable energy, storage, and e-mobility to New Clark City Stadium and other Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) sites to reduce energy costs, reliance on grid power, improve sustainability and achieve progress on decarbonization journey.
An MOU for a collaborative partnership on the Development of an Electric Transportation Framework throughout the properties associated with BCDA in the Philippines was also signed along with the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH)/ Countryside Housing Initiatives (CHI) through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Other MOUs cover the establishment of collection centers and a recycling facility for plastic waste in the Philippines using innovative organic recycling, synthesis of biomass and carbon utilization and material synthesis technologies from an Australian university, and exports/distribution of the resulting transparent sustainable material for Australian food and beverage companies, as well as for the manufacturing of portable, affordable, and accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED) solutions and Distribution of portable, affordable, and accessible Automated External Defibrillator (AED) solutions.
A partnership between the National Development Company (NDC), the Philippines’s leading state-owned enterprise investing in diverse industries, and an Australian company was also formed for the transfer of its waste-to-energy technology to the Philippines that converts biowaste to green fuel.