The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center, through its Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF), Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnership (OMDP) formally signed the Agreement on Transaction Advisory Services (ATAS) for the Clark National Food Hub (CNFH) Project on July 12, 2024, at the ADB Headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
The CNFH Project involves the development, operations, and maintenance of a wholesale food hub that will serve Clark Freeport Zone, New Clark City, and surrounding areas in Luzon. The hub will serve as a comprehensive solution for the distribution, storage, and processing of agricultural products, enhancing food security in the region.
“This ceremonial signing marks a major step in the transaction advisory phase, ensuring technical expertise in the preparation, structuring, and procurement of the concessionaire for the National Food Hub Project,” said CIAC President and CEO, Arrey Perez in his opening remarks.
Through the ATAS, the PDMF shall provide funding support for the transaction advisory phase with ADB-OMDP acting as CIAC’s advisors for the preparation, structuring, and procurement of the concessionaire for the Project.
PPP Center Executive Director Ma. Cynthia C. Hernandez underscored that “the PPP Center aims to promote food security and improved food logistics to ensure affordable and accessible food for all Filipinos. Through the PPP Center’s PDMF, it extends support to the National Food Hub Project through the engagement of the ADB as transaction advisor to ensure that a well-crafted and bankable structure is developed for the Project to attract strong interest from both domestic and international markets.”
Executive Director Hernandez emphasized that the signing of the ATAS is a testament of how PPPs are not only a viable financing option for streamline sectors such as road and transportation, but also for areas like agriculture.
ADB-OMDP’s feasibility study and other pre-tender documents for the Project are expected to be finalized by January 2025 while the tender documents are expected to be publicly available in the first quarter of next year.
