Hungarian companies to rehabilitate lake in Philippines

Hungarian companies will undertake a 30-billion dollar project aimed at rehabilitating Lake Laguna, the largest lake in the Philippines, including water purification and monitoring water quality, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks in Manila on Thursday.

Hungary will also deliver water purification equipment to all regions of the Philippines contributing to that country’s drinking water supplies, the minister said following his talks with Teodoro Locsin, his Philippine counterpart, and Ramon Loopze, the minister of trade and industry.

Szijjártó noted that 400-sqkm Lake Laguna was heavily polluted, and could not be used for tourism or any other purposes. The rehabilitation project, financed from the Hungarian tied-aid programme, is expected to change that situation.

The minister said that the Hungarian government was ready to assist Hungarian companies in other countries, in view of an increasing competition for foreign market positions.

He added that Southeast Asia’s environmental challenges called for Hungarian technologies such as those employed in water management. “There is a huge demand for Hungarian water management solutions in the Philippines,” he said.