ADB: Philippines lead for $500-Million Electric Tricycle Manufacturing in the World

Philippines seen as e-vehicle parts manufacturing hub – Foreign Companies in relocating in the Philippines

The Asian Development Bank sees the Philippines becoming a regional manufacturing hub for electric vehicle parts, which is if the government and its partners will be able to successfully pull off the $500-million electric tricycle program.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Neeraj K. Jain, country director of the ADB for the Philippines said the e-Trike project, which will involve the roll out of 100,000 units of electronic tricycles across the country, was an initiative that could generate economic and "transformational" gains not only for tricycle drivers but for a whole new industry—the electric vehicle industry.

 

Sohail Hasnie, principal energy specialist at the ADB, disclosed in the interview that five to six foreign companies had expressed interest in relocating their factories to the Philippines, after seeing that the government and the ADB were aggressively pushing forward with the e-Trike project.

"These are big names in the industry," added Jain.

Companies interested in relocating in the Philippines include large battery manufacturer's overseas, spare parts manufacturers, motorcycle manufacturers and renewable energy firms.

Jain said these suppliers and manufacturers were willing to relocate because they knew the ADB was involved in the project.

 

"They know we can do (the same project) in Indonesia, Thailand or Vietnam. In case these companies decide to relocate here, they know we can help them set up a regional market. It becomes a win-win situation—e-Trike drivers earn more, the country saves on costly oil imports, reduces pollution, the country benefits from new (industry), new jobs are created," Jain said.

According to Hasnie, the bidding process for the procurement of the e-trikes has started. The Department of Energy conducted the pre-qualification process two weeks ago, which had attracted 11 bidders. The short-list of pre-qualified e-Trike suppliers will be released within the next two weeks.

The pre-qualified bidders will be provided with the complete design documents, including the mandatory service package, which means the suppliers will have to provide after-sales services and warranty.

The e-Trike project is supported by local auto parts makers led by the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP). Both groups believe that the successful rollout of the program will attract major electric vehicle partners to set up shops in the Philippines.

Under the program, the government plans to replace 100,000 fuel-fed tricycle units with energy efficient e-trikes to help reduce the transport sector's gasoline consumption by 561,000 barrels yearly, reducing 260,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission yearly.

At present, more than 3.5 million motorized tricycles are operating in the country, producing more than 10 million tons of carbon dioxide and using nearly $5 billion worth of imported fuel yearly.

Inquirer 

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Singapore Animal activists praise Philippines move to stop exporting dolphins to Singapore

Singapore animal rights activists praise Philippines for barring dolphin exports to country.

Singapore animal rights activists have praised a Philippines government decision to bar the export of dolphins to Singapore as a step in the right direction.

"We have been campaigning against this ridiculous treatment of animals by the Singapore government and finally our actions have paid off in the Philippines," said Jayson Chang, an animal advocate in Singapore.

He said the move was "going to show the country that they cannot continue to be cruel to animals for profit."

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court stopped the re-exportation of 25 dolphins to Singapore, local reports said.

 

At the same time, the court, through Executive Judge Bernelito Fernandez, also prohibited the importation of additional dolphins into the country.

"After a thorough review of the allegations in support of the prayer for the issuance of a TEPO, this office finds that there exists extreme urgency and that the subject 25 captive dolphins and the petitioners will suffer grave injustice and irreparable injury should the re-exporting of the said captive dolphins and the importing of additional dolphins into the country be undertaken at this time…This office hereby rules to grant the prayer for a 72-hour TEPO effective upon receipt of this order by the respondents," the court said.

 

The dolphins are currently at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic.

The case stemmed from a petition filed by the Earth Island Institute (EII)-Philippines, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), CARA Welfare Philippines and several others against the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to stop the re-exportation of 25 Solomon Island dolphins to Singapore.

 

It also comes on the heels of anger over the giant pandas that have arrived in Singapore from China and are set to go on public display this December in the city-state.

"We want all animals to not be in captivity and even more so these two pandas because they are not in their natural habitat," animal rights campaigner Teresa Cho said on Thursday afternoon as she and fellow activists were gathering to plan potential demonstrations against the panda's remaining in Singapore.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) on Thursday announced that the pandas successfully completed the one month quarantine on October 6 and would not be prepared for public viewing.

The two pandas, five-year-old male Kai Kai and four-year-old Jia Jia – are expected to be the new stars in a brand new area of the Singapore Zoo.

 

They will make their public debut in December.

Singapore's government has also begun selling souvenirs, such as panda-inspired bags and toys.

The panda pair, which are on a 10-year loan from the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) to Singapore, were initially meant to arrive in March, but their arrival was delayed because more changes had to be made to their $8.5 million enclosure.

Director of CWCA Zhong Yi told members of the media in mid-August that representatives made a visit of the 1,225 square meter panda enclosure in June and found everything in order.

Like their fellow animal rights activists in Malaysia, Singapore's growing animal advocate community has condemned the government's decision to accept a pair of pandas from China.

The activists told Bikyamasr.com that the conditions in Singapore "are not appropriate for pandas and the move would cause unnecessary stress for the animals."

Bikyamasr

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