Kampac Oil Group of Dubai plans to increase its long-term investment in the Philippines to $15 billion that will include a railway from its project site in Pangasinan to Manila.
Allyson Artes, special advisor of the company’s Energy City project in Sual, Pangansinan, said the project engineers decided to add railway lines that would link the site to Manila.
“Kampac is not fazed even though the project will be well over $15 billion in 15 years because we believe that the Philippines has the potential to become the first Asian country to triple its growth in the next 10 to 15 years,” Artes said.
Artes said the railway system would have two lines, each for cargo and passengers, between Sual and Manila.
Kampac tapped Aurecon Australia PTY and Mott McDonald UK for the design and engineering, planning and management of Energy City, a proposed multi-purpose city, which will be the first of its kind in the world.
Under the plan, Kampac Energy City will have a non-commercial port, a township and the Energy City. These three integrated development shall take 5 to 15 years to complete.
Kampac Oil plans to distribute and sell oil in the Asean region, with the Philippines as its distribution hub.
Kampac said it completed the shortlisting process for consultants and contractors in preparation for the groundbreaking for the project by the second quarter of 2016.
“Despite the declining oil prices, the management of Kampac is bullish about the project because we think this is the time to take advantage of the cheap oil price period which will impact to lower the cost of construction and accelerate the development of the city,” said Artes.
He said Kampac was confident that both Asia and the Philippines would continue to grow, with the Philippines needing more energy to meet the challenges of the 2020’s energy security vision.
Kampac said it would hire about 10,000 to 14,000 workers, once the project was completed.
Kampac is an international oil company with diversified activities including oil exploration and trading and other allied businesses worldwide.
Kampac International Plc is the holding company of Kampac Oil with stakes in companies such as Kampac Properties, Kampac Resources, Kampac Flora, Kampac Telecom and Kampac Travel & Tours.