MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has prequalified eight economic zone development projects worth P33 billion combined, the biggest of which is the P27.178 billion North Cebu Economic Zone in Medellin, Cebu.
The North Cebu Economic Zone is one of the largest investments among the projects pre-qualified by PEZA in the first half of 2023, followed by two more manufacturing ecozones, one IT center and four IT parks.
The two manufacturing ecozones are expansion projects of Lima Technology Center-SEZ in Malvar, Batangas, and in Gateway Business Park-SEZ in General Trias, Cavite having a total project cost of P233.260 million.
The IT center will be located in Makati City with a project cost of P4.12 billion.
Meanwhile, the four IT parks will involve a total investment of P1.47 billion. Three of the IT parks will be in Quezon City, while one will be in South Cotabato City.
The PEZA Board as chaired by DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said these new and expansion ecozones will undergo FIRB approval for projects with a minimum capital investment of P1 billion and Presidential Proclamation as required for the developers' signing of a Registration Agreement (RA) with PEZA.
“We're thrilled to announce that our ecozone development projects have seen a significant increase in investment from January to June 2023. In comparison to last year's figures of P4.858 billion worth of investments during the same period, we've experienced a 579.23 percent jump to P33.002 billion. This uptick in ecozone development investment is crucial as it indicates a growing demand for proclaimed areas, which is further supported by the rise in new and expansion projects,” said PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga in a statement.
Meanwhile, during the first year of the President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., administration covering the period July 2022 to June 2023, the PEZA Board has greenlighted 17 ecozone development projects with a total investment of P122.274 billion. These are composed of seven new and expansion manufacturing ecozones, eight IT Parks, one IT Center, and one new agro-industrial ecozone and will be located in Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, Western Visayas, SOCCSKARGEN, and National Capital Region (NCR).
The eight pre-qualified ecozones for the first half of 2023 are part of the total 17 new and expansion ecozones approved during the one-year coverage of the current administration and are in various stages of development.
As part of the Director General’s commitment to revisit processes to better cater to the evolving needs of PEZA’s stakeholders, the PEZA Board has approved Board Resolution No. 23-138 to streamline the ecozone proclamation process, making it easier to do business within the ecozones.
“As we are now beefing up our Agency to continuously enhance our delivery of services and facilitate faster ecozone proclamations to provide ready-for-occupancy sites for our agile locators, it is high time for PEZA to amend its guidelines for a simplified application, proclamation, and registration process for new and expanding ecozone developer/operator projects,” noted Panga expressing optimism that by passing this resolution, more economic zones could be established, especially in rural areas.
This will effectively make the Philippines ready to accept more investments from global market players, and ultimately, increase exports, create more job opportunities, and hasten countryside development for the foreseeable future, he added.
PEZA Board Resolution No. 23-138 will take effect immediately following its complete publication in a newspaper of general publication.