Clark eases terms for ecozone locators

Clark Development Corp. (CDC) is easing some of its lease terms to locators in the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) to help them weather the current global economic turmoil.

In an interview with The STAR, CDC president Benigno Ricafort admitted that some of the locators had expressed “concerns” about the global economic slump but, fortunately, have not indicated intentions to pull out of the zone.

However, Ricafort said “we expect export projections of the CSEZ next year to be lower than this year.”

For this year, he said the CDC is still optimistic the ecozone’s export target of $1 billion would still be reached as actual exports had already exceeded $700 million in the first nine months.

However, for 2009, Ricafort said “that target may have to be lower as consumption will be affected.”

To ease some of the burden of its locators, Ricafort said the CDC has already started negotiations with its garments manufacturers locators about their lease terms and the share of the CDC in their gross sales.

Ricafort said the CDC “may postpone some of the lease payments and hold back on our share of participation in their gross sales.”

The CDC has already started such negotiations with garments locators who account for 18 percent of the freeport’s exports.

The garments locators had earlier been adversely affected by the demise of the quota system and the retreat of Chinese locators who have gone back to China.

Because of the old garments quota system, some Chinese firms had relocated to Clark to be able to avail of the quota allocation of the Philippines. However, with the removal of the quota system, those Chinese firms have returned to China.

The electronics sector locators account for majority, or 40 percent, of exports from the ecozone and comprise 65 percent of total locators.

American electronics manufacturer Texas Instruments continues to proceed with the construction of its new plant which is now about 70 percent complete.

Completion of the plant had been delayed from September this year and is now expected to finish by January next year.

Ricafort said TI’s presence in Clark continues to attract new locators who are suppliers of the electronics firm.