Cebu needs more ecozones to accommodate investors

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu needs more economic zones as more potential investors are seen to locate here, an official said.

Benjamin Joseph Yap, head of Cebu Province's Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC), told The FREEMAN that Cebu needs to address the existing demand for more ecozones as several companies -- both domestic and foreign --  look at the province as "a premier investment location".

There have been proposals already to build ecozones in the towns of Minglanilla and Cordova, he said.

SM Prime Holdings is planning to do a 1500-hectare reclamation project in Cordova, estimated to cost about P138 billion. Previously, SM Prime President Hans Sy claimed the project, which had been the company's application years back, would still go through a longer process.

On the other hand, Ming-Mori Development Corp. is eyeing the construction of the 100-hectare Minglanilla Reclamation and Industrial Park. Its construction is projected to take five years.

Yap explained they are looking at these planned developments as new locations for economic zones for more future investors.

The Cebu Provincial Reclamation Authority already approved the Minglanilla and Cordova reclamation projects this year.

The areas to be reclaimed will be converted into an industrial park where more than half will be an industrial zone.

The industrial zone is planned to house 54 light industrial manufacturing and assembly plants for both local and foreign investors.

Other areas will be made as location for commercial and residential mixed-use developments.

The 2014 Province of Cebu Investments and Incentives Code was created to encourage domestic and foreign investors to set up shop in the province. The code presents fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to potential investments.

Data as of May 2015 from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) indicated that Cebu currently has a total of 37 operating economic zones.

These include seven manufacturing ecozones, 27 information technology (IT) parks and centers, one agro-industrial zone and two tourism ecozones.

The South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City, which is granted the Special Economic Zone status by Peza, is currently being developed by some property giants such as SM Prime, Ayala Land Inc. and Filinvest Land Inc. Although it was originally designed to locate export-oriented light industries, these developers have now made the reclaimed property a mixed-use lot by building commercial and residential developments.

Meanwhile, the CIPC is currently working on the creation of a data base on Cebu's 44 towns and seven cities.

According to Yap, the data base, which will soon be available on the provincial government's website, aims to present updated data on the aspects of doing business in Cebu, including costs of labor, power, land, rental and the availability of workforce, among others.

"We're creating a data base from all sectors and with that we'll have a clearer picture of what is Cebu and where we can invest," he said.

The CIPC chief expects the completion of the data base by the end of this year.

The provincial government gave the CIPC a P2-million budget for this year to undertake programs including the data base creation. (FREEMAN)