Thursday, July 03, 2008 Laus signs US$1M lease contract with locator
CLARK FREEPORT -- Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer Levy Laus has signed a US$1 million lease agreement with Berthaphil, Inc. in New York City recently, further bolstering the Freeport zone here as the next logistic hub of the Asia Pacific Region.
Laus, who has signified his desire to leave this month the state-owned in a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last May, signed the agreement with Andre Hercs, chairman and founder of Berthaphil, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
The signing was witnessed by President Arroyo and other Philippine government officials, among them Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and Pampanga congressmen Mikey Arroyo, Aurelio Gonzales, Jr. and Ana York Bondoc-Sagum.
The lease will pave the way for the development of a 58-hectare area into a suppliers’ park for Texas Instruments (TI) plant, one of the world's leading microchips manufacturer, in Clark.
The project is in line with the eight-point agenda of President Arroyo in transforming Clark into a logistic hub in Asia and the Pacific.
Berthaphil has already guaranteed the investments of 12 multinationals and prestigious suppliers and business partners of TI to locate at the suppliers park even if the project is still in its development stages.
These will infuse an investment of about US$40 million and exports amounting to US$20 million annually, and about 2,000 new jobs once the park become operational.
The projected investments of Berthaphil and other potential business partners may reach US$60 million, creating 3,500 new jobs and generating aggregate exports amounting to US$30 million yearly once the park is fully occupied.
Other potential companies of the suppliers' park shall complement the Clark Investment Priority List and Master Plan to increase exports, quality job generation and promoting Clark as the most preferred investment destination in Southeast Asia.
Berthaphil, a local corporation owned by Worldwide Sourcing Ltd. American stockholders from New York, invested in Clark in 1999 to engage in building, developing and marketing industrial and business parks desgined to host multi-dimensional business operation from logistics to warehousing, electronic assembly and packing and information technology.
The firm has already infused P750 million for the development of three parks in Clark, and is responsible for creating nearly 5,000 jobs and an average of $20 million exports annually.
