LESS than one year after assuming jurisdiction over the Subic Bay Free Port, Philippine officials have approved investments worth more than eight billion pesos (about HK$2.4 billion) at the former US naval base.
The figure represents 24 projects ranging from hotels and casinos to cargo and light manufacturing operations.
Several were approved last week before the chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Richard Gordon, left for the US to lure American investors to Subic.
SBMA officials said they expect the projects to generate as many as 10,000 jobs in the 14,000-hectare zone.
About 3,000 people have been employed by private ventures at the former base and about 8,000 have been taken on as unpaid volunteers.
The largest investments have come from Taiwan, Malaysia, the US and the Philippines.