Clark eyes P23-B investment from 27 new projects

CLARK FREEPORT—This Freeport continues to soar as 27 new projects are signed lease agreements here with more than P23.4 billion committed investments and about 3,000 workers once the projects are fully operational, officials of Clark Development
Corporation (CDC) announced.
With the new projects signed from January to April this year, total number of locators in Clark climbed to 893 with close to 1,600 possible
employment opportunities from the new projects.
In a report submitted to CDC President Benigno Ricafort, the the Marketing Department stated that the biggest investment haul for the year came from the new foreign industrial project with more than 23 billion committed investments for the next five years.
Marketing Manager Rafael Galvez also told Ricafort that four projects signed in April committed P88 million in investments of which three are foreign firms.
In the report, the new investors are Australian Ausphilsolution Corporation, Japanese firm Epic Waters Inc., Korea’s MPN Global Amusement Corporation, and V&R Star Trading. The three foreign will locate inside the Philexel Business park where they firms have signed sub-lease agreements.
Ausphilsolution is exclusively engaged in the business of call, customer service or contract center foreign clients and markets. This will include inbound customer service that will include but not limited to processing of transactions of clients. outbound customer service will include selling long distance service of clients, the Marketing report said.
Epic Clearwaters will engage in business activities related to the trading of activated carbon. Said activity involves sourcing of locally available raw materials, specifically activated carbon, processing and exporting the same to other countries (primarily to Japan & China and, to import high-grade ceramics blocks (as intermediate raw materials) from Japan for processing/mixing with locally-sourced activated carbon to produce a water filtration medium/commodity/product for export to different countries.
The MPN will occupy the Aritake Estates for their office space needs while MPN will operate as a warehousing project for repackaging of locally produced consumer goods for 100 percent export to Middle East, South Africa and other Asian countries.
The continued growth of investments in Clark is a manifestation of the economic agenda of President Arroyo to entice the entry of more foreign investors to generate economic and employment activities.
Because of investors’ confidence to President Arroyo, CDC is expecting more firms to locate inside the former US-run military facility because of its “biggest competitive edge” of the airport and seaport facilities after the connection of Clark and Subic Bay Freeport Zone through the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway.