International group kicks off infra investment drive for PH
The Coalition for Emerging Market Infrastructure Investment, which includes private equity giant KKR and Co. and infrastructure leader Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), has launched the Philippines Platform, which is dedicated to catalyzing at least $300 billion in infrastructure investment into the country.
Convenor Indo-Pacific Partnership for Prosperity (IP3) said in a statement on Friday that Coalition co-chairs Joe Bae, co-CEO of KKR, and Matt Harris, founding managing director of GIP, a part of BlackRock, an industry leader in infrastructure across equity, debt and solutions, had met with government officials led by Secretary Frederick Go, special assistant to the President for investment and economic affairs, to kick off the program for the Philippines, its first focus country.
“We are delighted that the coalition has chosen the Philippines as its initial focus country,” Go said.
“This decision affirms President Marcos’ commitment to modernizing regulations to attract foreign investment. The Philippine government looks forward to working with private sector leaders to carry out our ambitious infrastructure development goals,” he added.
The Philippines Platform brings together governments, private sector leaders and other key stakeholders over a dedicated two-year work program to explore innovative strategies to increase infrastructure investment and build a sustainable pipeline of infrastructure projects, the statement said.
In the launch meeting, the parties agreed to establish an ambitious road map to enable support for investment needs into infrastructure across the Philippines, which is estimated to need at least $300 billion to fill the infrastructure funding gap.
New platform
“The coalition is thrilled to work with our Philippine partners to launch this new platform, which will deploy the private sector investment needed to meet key infrastructure demands. Our coalition has been drawn by the scale of the opportunities in the Philippines and the clear commitment to increasing foreign investment as evidenced by recent reforms. Our meeting represented a key step to advancing our work, and we look forward to continuing the momentum into 2025,” said IP3 executive director David Talbot.
“This week’s launch meeting with the Philippine government represented a momentous step in establishing an innovative and collaborative road map that will support our shared mission to drive infrastructure investment to the Philippines,” added GIP’s Harris, “This road map will explore a variety of strategies including innovative financing mechanisms and both sector-wide and local partnership opportunities—all in support of the Philippines’ infrastructure priorities.”
The coalition is particularly interested in supporting the Philippines’ ambitious renewables targets, including increasing the share of renewable energy from 35 percent to 40 percent by 2030, and 50 percent by 2040-2050, to at least 60 percent by 2050.
Energy transition
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that the Philippines will require a cumulative investment of at least $300 billion between 2024 to 2040 to deliver a clean energy transition that supports prosperity and economic growth.
For her part, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that private sector investment is an important part of supporting the broader efforts of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), an economic initiative launched by US President Joe Biden in May 2022.
Under that, the Coalition for Emerging Market Infrastructure Investment was created to support Indo-Pacific emerging economies in achieving their economic development, human capital and sustainability goals, through the identification, promotion and development of successful infrastructure projects throughout the region.
The Coalition is convened by IP3 and co-chaired by GIP and KKR. Members also include Allied Climate Partners, BlackRock, Brookfield, GIC, The Rockefeller Foundation and Temasek.
“There is exciting work ahead to identify and facilitate ambitious infrastructure investments in one of the fastest-growing Indo-Pacific countries,” Raimondo said.
In 2023, the Marcos administration set 194 infrastructure projects worth P9 trillion as part of its “Build Better More” program, the government’s infrastructure agenda.
