The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) has registered the country’s biggest economic zone in Quezon province which will cost P125 billion.
Peza said on Thursday that it signed a registration agreement last January 31 with Achievement Realty Corp. (ARC) to establish the Quezon Techno-Industrial Special Economic Zone (QTISEZ) in Barangays Rosario and San Jose in Mauban, Quezon province.
The 1,836-hectare special ecozone will house an international seaport and airport, with an estimated budget of P25 billion each.
“It will be the first international airport and seaport to be strategically located in the eastern part of Luzon,” Peza Director General Charito Plaza said in a statement.
The remaining P75 billion of the total cost of development is allocated to the construction of 2,000 factories which will generate over 200,000 jobs.
ARC Chairman Philip Cea said “funding would come from foreign [and local] investors who have expressed interests in the project and we are already in talks with them.”
The agreement gives authority to ARC as an ecozone developer and operator to “establish, develop, construct, administer, manage, and operate QTISEZ.”
The company is allowed to construct, install, provide, operate and maintain infrastructure facilities, utilities, communication system and sewage and drainage system, among others.
ARC is also tasked with providing security and maintaining peace and order within the ecozone.
The company shall pay to Peza all applicable fees, noting its agreement that the investment promotion agency may withhold, suspend or disapprove permits.
Meanwhile, the regulator of ecozones has the “exclusive power and prerogative to permit, supervise, and control the entry and exit of all goods, machinery, and equipment, merchandise, and article to and from QTISEZ.”
“With the aims of making QTISEZ as a township, around 200 hectares shall be dedicated to mixed-use for the establishment of government offices, residential, commercial, and other sectors where our people can live, work, and play,” Cea added.
The ARC official also said he has inked several memoranda of understanding with Chinese and Korean investors to pursue projects for the ecozone in Quezon province.
The signing of the agreement was in line with Proclamation 1277 and the provisions of the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, which allowed the creation of the said ecozone project. It is also pursuant to the government’s initiative of boosting economic activities in the countryside.
“This huge investment ARC has entrusted to PEZA is going to be a historical project because this new economic zone shall come out, as of today, the future biggest economic zone in the Philippines,” the Peza chief said.
This month, Peza also announced its partnership with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to build aerotropolis and/or aerotropolis-linked ecozones in the country.
Their memorandum of agreement states that both parties will promote the establishment of said ecozones to attract investments in aviation industry-related manufacturing industries, logistics services and maintenance, repair and operations, among others.
“As we all may know, efficient connectivity through established infrastructures for transportation and logistics facility by air, land, and sea are crucial factor for ease of doing business and lower cost of doing business. Without it, we cannot build linkages and delivery and exchange of goods and services,” Plaza said.