BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – The Japan-Butuan Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) move is seen as a very positive business outlook and is also expected to provide impetus to the city’s economic growth in next year and beyond.

This landmark partnership developed during the Asia Pacific Public-Private-Partnership Forum held at the Tokyo Convention Center in Japan early this week.

In the forum, Toyo University president Makio Takemura, and PPP Research Center head Professor Yuji Nemoto presented the investment opportunities here.

Also present during the investment presentation were Geoffrey Hamilton and Michael Flynn, PPP experts from the United Nations’ (UN), and Froilan Pamintuan of the Philippine Embassy in Japan.

In this gathering before Japan businessmen, the Toyo University PPP Research Center presented the "PPP Possibilities for the Future of Growing Butuan City.”

The presentation of the report is a component of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Toyo University and the city government of here that allowed the Toyo University PPP Research Center to conduct a study on possible PPP Projects in this city.

It was learned that a team from Toyo University conducted interviews and site inspections here last September.

It was also learned that this is the first time that Toyo University conducted such study outside Japan, choosing this city as its first non-Japanese local government unit (LGU) subject.

The report contained “highly potential investments” in the fields of agriculture, recycling, renewable energy, economic enterprise, and tourism.

The most noteworthy recommendations include the mechanization of the agriculture industry, the conversion of waste to energy, and the use of wood pellets as biomass fuel.

Professor Sam Tabuchi, team leader of the group that conducted the study, emphasized that this city is also rich in timber, and has the ability to cultivate agricultural trees, such as falcata, gmelina, and ipil-ipil, in just three to five years.

According to Tabuchi, “this is a major advantage over Western countries which need approximately 40 years to grow trees for biomass fuel production.”

The presentation of the availability of agricultural forest products in this city caught the attention of business groups in Japan seeing a “big source for biomass fuel production.”

An estimated half a million hectares of agricultural tree plantations is now spread in the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, and Surigao del Norte, and the cities of Cabadbaran, Bayugan, Bislig, Tandag, Surigao, and region’s capital city of Butuan, all in the Caraga Region.

Due to the Tokyo forum, PPP business investment opportunities is seen to spur the economic growth of this city by 2012 and beyond, business analysts here said.

Initially, three colleges and universities here – Fr. Saturnino Urios University (FSUU), state-owned Caraga State University, and St. Joseph Institute of Technology (SJIT) – signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for academic collaboration with Japan’s Toyo University, one of the oldest universities in Tokyo, Japan.

The signing was witnessed by the 28-man delegation of this city led by Mayor Ferdinand M. Amante Jr., Vice Mayor Lawrence Fortun.

Signing for the Fr. Saturnino Urios University was its president Fr. John Young, Nick Salas, president of Saint Joseph Institute of Technology (SJIT), and the Caraga State University (CSU) by Dr. Joanna Cuenca, CSU president and former Commission on Higher Education regional director for the Caraga Region.

Amante who arrived here Friday disclosed that his administration is serious regarding the current efforts to strengthen PPP projects in this city, in line with the PPP advocacy of President Aquino.