Tokyo group to build $1-B CNG-powered car plant

MANILA, Philippines - World Network Bridges (WBN), a Tokyo-based organization that specializes in pooling Japanese capital for investment in “green businesses, said it is putting up a $1-billion manufacturing plant for compressed natural gas (CNG) – powered vehicles.

WBN president Yoshiyuki Ikeda said focusing on the niche market for CNG vehicles would enable the Philippines to developed 100-percent Philippine made cars and trucks that will enjoy the unique advantage of being powered by Japanese technology.

“We have a ready pool of Japanese experts on CNG-car manufacturing who are willing to share their technology to Filipino technicians,” he said.

Ikeda said it would be feasible for WNB to bring investible funds in the Philippines because of the shorter flight distance between Manila and Tokyo compared to other countries in the region.

For the CNG car project, Ikeda cited the Philippines’s huge natural gas deposits as the country’s main comparative advantage over the other countries they have visited.

Ikeda said a Japanese company that does not want to be identified yet will commit as much as $700 million for this venture if the government will grant it pioneering status with entitlement to applicable incentives.

Company officials will visit the country before year-end to negotiate the terms of the project with concerned government agencies, Ikeda said.

He said the company will ask the government to grant the project a pioneering status with entitlement to applicable incentives.

Rodrigo Cabrera, country manager of WBN, for his part said that the group would also be meeting with Energy officials regarding the project.

“The proposed manufacturing plant will initially produce cars that run exclusively on compressed natural gas. Light vans, heavy vehicles and even shipping vessels will also be added to the production lines if market conditions will allow such an expansion,” Cabrera said.