JAPANESE multinational conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. remains keen on taking part in public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the Philippines, particularly in railway projects.

“We never had any PPP projects in the Philippines,” Mitsuhiko Shimizu, general manager of Hitachi Asia Ltd. Philippine branch, said in a forum held at the Makati Shangri-la on Monday.

Hitachi has had experience joining some PPP projects in Europe “but we have much interest” in the Philippines, he said.





Shimizu said Hitachi is eyeing the Tutuban to Malolos railway project.

“We have an interest in the railway [project from] Malolos to Tutuban,” he said at the forum.

The Malolos to Tutuban railway project is a 38-kilometer elevated commuter rail that will be the initial phase of the Philippine National Railways’ North-South Commuter Railway Project in Luzon, which will be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through development assistance loans.

According to Shimizu, Hitachi is interested in either being the supplier or contractor of transport projects in the Philippines.

“We are just interested to be on the suppliers’ side or the contractors’ side,” Shimizu told The Manila Times.

Hitachi is currently targeting to increase its overseas sales ratio to more than 55 percent of total sales in its 2018 mid-term plan.