PH, Asean partners to establish cable links

The Philippines and its partner countries in the Asean—Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Malaysia—have agreed to undertake a vital big-ticket infrastructure project that will not only improve physical connectivity, but also significantly boost economic development in the region.

Trade Undersecretary Prudencio M. Reyes Jr., the country’s senior official to Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga), said the project called for the establishment of a high bandwidth cable system of over 5,092 kilometers that would link the countries to its partners, including Guam.

The BIMP-Eaga Submarine Terrestrial (BEST) Cable project, will be led by BEST Cable Corp. Pte Ltd (BCC), a BIMP-Eaga private sector consortium.

BCC has already signed a memorandum of agreement with the Brunei International Gateway, Sdn (BIG) for the purchase of Asia-America Gateway (AAG) and Southeast Asia-Japan Cable (SJC) capacities for the extension of the cable system.

China, which signed a Framework for Economic Cooperation with BIMP-Eaga in 2009, would co-finance the BEST Cable project through the China National Technical Import Export Corp. (CNTIC), in partnership with NMV Development Corp. of Canada.

Meanwhile, significant progress were also noted in the implementation of the bloc’s Priority Infrastructure Projects (PIPs), most of which involved improvement of roads, sea ports and airports to link the economic corridors.

To advance the transport connectivity and facilitation in the subregion, the BIMP-Eaga is implementing a number of transport-related memoranda of understanding particularly those relating to the amendment of the protocol on the expansion of air linkages; finalization of an agreement on non-convention sized ships (NCSS); and review of the land transport agreement.

The Philippines, for its part, has implemented measures to increase the connectivity of Mindanao and Palawan with other countries in the bloc, mainly through sea and air linkages, such as the Davao/Gensan-Bitung (Indonesia) shipping route and Brooke’s Point (Palawan)-Kudat RoRo Service, as well as the resumption of Kota Kinabalu-Puerto Princesa flights, and the regularization of the Davao-Manado flight, Reyes said.

The new routes, Reyes explained, will increase trade opportunities for the region and will serve a vital component in the Asean integration.

Recently, an international trade fair and conference generated more than $196 million (or roughly P8.9 billion) in investments and booked sales for member states of BIMP-Eaga.

The fair, which gathered more than 1,500 participants, cornered P6 billion worth of possible investments during the business-matching sessions. Initial reports from the Philippines and Malaysia indicated a total of P2.9 billion in booked sales from the international trade fair.

These potential investments were expected to generate approximately 117,000 new jobs for Mindanao.

Among the products that caught the attention of buyers were raw and processed food, textile, clothing, furniture and kitchenware.