Investment up in RP

Investment up in RP

MANILA (AFP): Investments in a former U.S. military base north of Manila have reached 7.2 billion pesos (US$276.9 million) as of March, the agency transforming the area into an economic zone said yesterday.

The investment in the former U.S. Clark Air Base involved 62 projects, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said.

Four projects worth $220 million were registered by the CDC in March alone, spearheaded by a $200-million investment by Australian Plumbing Supplies Pty. Ltd., which will manufacture plumbing products for export, it said.

Manila is transforming the sprawling former home of the U.S. 13th Air Force into an international airport, aviation complex, tourism center and economic enclave.

U.S. troops abandoned the base, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital, in 1991 after it was devastated during the eruption of nearby Mount Pinatubo volcano.

Manila is also in the process of developing the former U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay into a free port and industrial zone. U.S. forces left Subic in 1992 after the Philippines refused to extend the lease, ending nearly a century of U.S. military presence in country.