STATE-OWNED Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) have agreed to explore the possibility of funding key projects.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on Monday by BCDA President and CEO Joshua Bingcang and MIC President and CEO Rafael Consing Jr.

Five projects — the expansion of Clark International Airport, New Clark City housing, Clark Integrated Public Transport System, Poro Point Seaport Modernization Program, and the Clark Central Business District — will be considered for MIC funding, Consing said.

"The main purpose of the MoU is for us to be able to start looking at the numbers, the specific details of these projects, of these five particular projects. So, we've gone through it before, but this time we will go into it much deeper," he told reporters.

Bingcang said the five projects, to be built under public-private partnerships, would entail investments of around $4 billion.

The private sector will account for 60 percent of the total project costs and the "40 percent can be discussed among government partners, one of which is [MIC]," he added.

Bingcang said the BCDA was confident that the MIC, which administers the country's sovereign wealth fund, will see the "shovel-ready projects and programs as commercially and financially viable investments that will generate optimal returns for the government and for the Filipino people."

Some of the projects, he added, can already be implemented this year.

Consing, meanwhile, said MIC was ready to shell out funds as its operating, capital expenditures, and investment budgets were already approved by the Department of Budget and Management.

"[W]e can [start investing], subject to certain prerequisites being submitted and board being approved, we can begin our investments already," he added.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, meanwhile, welcomed the signing of the MoU.

"I cannot think of a better inaugural investment portfolio for Maharlika than the BCDA's flagship infrastructure projects within the vibrant Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone," he said.

"One can only imagine the wealth of opportunities that will be fully unlocked by this strategic partnership between the country's two important growth vehicles," Recto added.