THE joint venture agreement (JVA) between the bases conversion agency and a multinational consortium for the next-generation smart water and wastewater facilities will make New Clark City more attractive to investors, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.
In a statement on Monday, the ADB welcomed the signing of a JVA for the project. The Manila-based multilateral served as a transaction advisor to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on the project.
The ADB said the consortium of Prime Water Infrastructure Corp., Prime Assets Ventures Inc. (PAVI), MGS Construction Inc., and Israel’s Tahal Group, a global provider of sustainable infrastructure, signed the JVA with the BCDA.
“The ADB is pleased to deliver a successful outcome for BCDA and support the development of the Philippines’s greenest and smartest city,” said the Head of ADB’s Office of Public-Private Partnership (OPPP) Yoji Morishita.
“The joint venture agreement establishes an innovative framework that equitably balances risks and returns, offering one of the lowest tariffs across the country while ensuring the availability of next-generation smart water and wastewater services,” he said.
The ADB said that last month, a consortium comprising Prime Water, PAVI, MGS Construction, and Tahal Group submitted a bid of P9.45 per cubic meter to win the tender.
The proposed P9.45 or $0.18 per cubic meter rate shall apply for the water supply only. The same amount will be charged for wastewater services, resulting in a total tariff of P18.90 or $0.36 per cubic meter for both services over the first five years of the 30-year joint venture period.
This, the ADB said, will make these facilities in New Clark City highly competitive when compared against rates for cities in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia as well as globally, and attract more businesses and investors to the city.
New Clark City, located within the Clark Special Economic Zone, is envisioned to become the country’s first smart, green and sustainable metropolis. Phase 1A, which covers 60 hectares, involves the construction of the National Government Administrative Center, including a world-class sports complex to be used when the Philippines hosts the Southeast Asian Games in 2019.
“By offering state-of-the-art water and wastewater services at competitive rates, we are staying true to BCDA’s promise for New Clark City to become the Philippines’s most attractive destination for residences and businesses, and the action-oriented ethos of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration,” said BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Vivencio B. Dizon.
The ADB has been providing advisory services to BCDA since June 2017. The services cover multiple sectors within New Clark City including water, power, gas distribution and IT infrastructure.
It’s advisory services are, in turn, supported by the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund, a multidonor fund aimed at reducing risks to the urban poor from climate change and natural disasters, through strategic planning of resilient infrastructure.
The ADB has long supported PPPs and, in 2014, established the OPPP to provide independent transactional advice and develop broader PPP knowledge and expertise in
the region.