By Richmond S. Mercurio
(The Philippine Star) | Updated November 17, 2015 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
State-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) is bringing in
more foreign partners in the development of Clark Green City.
BCDA said yesterday it
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Swedish government and two
private firms to explore future collaborations in the development of what is
envisioned to be the country’s first disaster-resilient and green metropolis.
BCDA’s new partners are IVL
Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), a foundation jointly owned by
the government of Sweden and Swedish industry, and firms ElectriCITY and Xeric
AB.
BCDA said ElectriCITY is a
non-profit organization composed of major companies operating in Sweden while
Xeric is a firm that specializes in providing business consultancy services for
small and medium enterprises.
“We welcome IVL,
ElectriCITY, and Xeric as the newest
partners of the BCDA in the development of Clark Green City and look forward to
a fruitful collaborative partnership through knowledge and technology transfer, research and development, and business
investments,” BCDA president and CEO
Arnel Paciano Casanova said.
In August this year, BCDA
signed a cooperation agreement with the government of Japan to craft a project
implementation framework which will ensure the economic, financial and
commercial viability of building and operating Clark Green City.
Casanova said the agreement
with the Swedish entities creates a non-binding framework for furthering
discussions for potential collaborative opportunities in relation to
sustainable urbanization, best practices in urban development, and providing
business solution services in the development and growth of Clark Green City.
He said a technical
cooperation committee would be established to facilitate the implementation of
the cooperative activities.
Clark Green City is a
9,450-hectare master planned property within the Clark Special Economic Zone in
the province of Tarlac.
At full development, Clark
Green City will have some 1.12 million residents, 800,000 workers andcontribute
a gross output of approximately P1.57 trillion per year to the national
economy.
BCDA and Filinvest Land
Inc. intend to break ground on the initial 288-hectare lot in Clark Green City
by the first quarter of next year.
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