A US-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is targeting to start commercial operations in Clark, Pampanga in the last quarter of 2023, according to an official of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC).
Agnes VST Devanadera, president and CEO of CDC, told reporters that the EV firm is keen on launching its operations soon.
“It’s plug and play. So we have existing and they just enter the facility,” Devanadera told reporters on the sidelines of the recent 49th Philippine Business Conference & Expo (PBC&E) forum.
Devanadera said the American firm is planning to transfer to Asia. In fact, she said among the countries in the region, the American EV firm chose the Philippines as it is “more stable.”
“They are moving….actually they’re existing in the US, but they want to move to Asia and they think that politically and everything else the Philippines is more stable.”
Devanadera, however, did not name the company and did not indicate the size of its investment. She said that both the CDC and the manufacturer have already sealed the deal. “It is really setting up and I think they have already processed their business permit.”
She said the CDC is keen on inviting more EV firms to set up shop in Clark.
Meanwhile, Devanadara said investors prefer CDC over other investment promotion agencies (IPAs) because of the state-owned firm’s low power cost and the location’s accessibility.
“Well in the Philippines, there’s a competitive advantage of Clark over the other IPAs because we have the lowest electricity rate. So that’s competitive enough plus we are highly accessible through air and land and we have our best road network going to Clark.”
CDC, a government-owned and -controlled corporation, recently reported a $5.5-billion increase in investments in the first half of 2023.
Devanadera told reporters last week that the companies that have expressed interest to expand their operations prior to the pandemic are now planning to do so in the Clark Freeport.
