CLARK FREEPORT -- A consortium of government-backed Malaysian firms recently assured President Benigno Aquino III's administration that it is ready to immediately finance and develop a modern airport inside the Clark aviation complex as they have proposed recently.
"If given the go signal we are willing to immediately pour-in $150 million in foreign direct investments into the Philippines to jumpstart the development of Clark as the country's main international airport," Bristeel Overseas Ventures Inc., (BOV) head William Chee said.
Chee said that their group is willing to support the President in terms of putting investments in the country as they believed on the genuine desire of the latter to create opportunities for every Filipino.
"As we congratulate President Aquino, we also would like to express our confidence in his leadership and promise of good governance through our willingness to invest in major infrastructure developments in the Philippines," Chee added.
It can be recalled that BOV submitted a proposal to the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) to build through a joint venture with the state-run firm a new terminal that will allow Clark airport to accommodate as much as seven million passengers annually.
As per reports, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) recently suffered intermittent shutdowns of its operations due to aging airport navigational equipment and runway visibility problems brought about by Metro Manila's worsening air pollution problems.
Temporary closure of NAIA's operation forced numerous international and domestic flights to land at other airports in the country, most of them at nearby Clark airport just 80 kilometers north of Manila.