The Philippines is seeking investment from China and Japan for $135 billion worth of power projects that President Rodrigo Duterte's government is ready to fast-track.
The Southeast Asian nation has held discussions with China, Japan, Russia and other countries about helping it boost generation capacity by 43 gigawatts in the coming decades to stabilize its power supply as the economy expands, according to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. Projects endorsed by his office will be approved within 30 days under an order recently signed by Duterte, instead of the months or even years it had taken proponents in the past, he said.
"There's a lot of expressions of interest to invest in the Philippines, and we're going to make it easy for investors," Cusi said in an interview Wednesday in Taguig City. "We are open to all parties, all countries. In all the trips we had, we made the sales pitch."