Japan to play key role in Subic master development plan
Japan will help draw a development master plan for the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and areas near it to spur economic activities there, the Department of Finance (DOF) said on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Last Friday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Japan’s Hiroto Izumi, special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, signed a memorandum of cooperation under which the Japanese committed to provide technical support for the Subic Bay Regional Development Master Plan.
The plan was aimed at “maximizing the economic potentials of Subic Bay and its surrounding areas,” the DOF said in a statement.
The memorandum of cooperation was signed on the sidelines of the ninth high-level meeting of the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation held in Hakone, Japan.
The DOF said that the memorandum of cooperation for the Subic master plan covered potential projects like roads, logistics hubs, water and power utilities and rescue operations facilities for disasters.
The master plan will be finalized “”at the soonest possible time,” the DOF said.
The memo said the Philippine government would need the help of Japan for “official development assistance (ODA) and other financial resources” to carry out priority projects listed on the final master plan.
Projects for funding by Japanese ODA and other means would be identified after a master plan survey and “in light of both governments’ priorities,” the memo continued.
The Japanese government first pledged support for the Subic master plan initiative in November when President Rodrigo Duterte met with Abe at this year’s Asean summit in Thailand.
Aside from the Subic project, the. high-level Philippine-Japan meeting also firmed up last week at least two loan agreements which included one to finance the rehabilitation of Guadalupe Bridge on Edsa and a bypass road in Davao City.