Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Lilia de Lima has declared Negros Occidental capital, Bacolod City, among the fastest growing potential investment sites in the country, particularly where information technology (IT) is concerned.
De Lima was in Bacolod last Monday to visit the existing IT parks and centers in Bacolod, including the Luxur IT Park where call center company, Teleperformance is located; Lopue’s East IT Centre, site of similar firm, Telequest; East Block IT Park where Next Level IT Teleservices is located and Robinsons Cybergate, where Teletech has chosen to build its quarters.
The PEZA chief commended Bacolod Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue for her thorough involvement with the IT sector, as well as the real estate property developers for having established 15 special economic zones (SEZ) for IT enterprises in Bacolod City.
Sigue noted that Bacolod has the most number of IT “ecozones,’’ another name for IT parks and centers, outside the national capital, Metro Manila and Cebu.
She said this is the main reason why Bacolod is currently ranked fifth among the top ten “next wave cities’’ (NWC) as declared by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), and the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP).
The presence of available locations, which have already been declared as SEZs, as well as the existence of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) Inc. in Bacolod are key factors enabling the city to be amongst the top NWCs.
Aside from Bacolod’s 15 IT ecozones, which include The Central District — a 15-hectare mixed-use IT park; Batapa-Sigue revealed that there are three other properties in the pipeline poised to apply for SZ accreditation with PEZA, including the Grand IT Park, which is the current site of Gaisano City Mall.
De Lima said all PEZA zones, including manufacturing zones, posted a 13.5 percent growth last year despite the recession. From P154.74 billion in 2009, total revenues generated by such zones rose to P175.36 billion.
There are already 207 SEZs all over the country, 127 of which are IT ecozones; 69 manufacturing zones; nine, tourism economic zones; and one each for a medical tourism park and a medical tourism center.
“Attracting investors to locate within the SEZs is easy,” said De Lima. “What is important is to sustain the growth of business within the zones, highlighting the fact that all business transactions with PEZA are strictly graft-free, speedy and very efficient.”
As National ICT Confederation of the Philippines Chair, Batapa-Sigue has invited De Lima to speak before 34 ICT councils and organizations from 34 cities and provinces nationwide during the 10th e-Services Global Outsourcing Conferences and Exhibitions this coming February 8 and 9 at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/240402/bacolod-deemed-fastest-growing-visayan-site-it
