Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. recently declared Cadiz as an “open city” for investors. Escalante disclosed that the entry of many investors paves the way for the rapid development of Cadiz City, as he reported that three or four solar farms are soon to rise in the city, aside from the existing ones being operated by an Indian company.
Cadiz is also hosting a 1,000 – megawatt substation, which is important in the production of solar energy, he added. Aside from that, Escalante reported that there are groups that are now starting to plant 1.2 million coffee and coconut trees in 1,500 hectares of land, which he described as a big thing in the reforestation campaign.
He also disclosed plans of an investor to put up a feed mill plant, noting that Cadiz City and its neighboring towns and cities produce two million heads of chicken and P120 million worth of cattle a year.
With Cadiz City composing 54,000 hectares of land, Escalante said its agricultural land is ready for investment.
In support of the declaration that Cadiz an “open city” for investors, Escalante said they have started to invest in road concreting projects two to three years ago, for the entry of investors, as they opened up marginal land to be productive.
According to the mayor, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel envisions Cadiz City and neighboring local government units as a “potential agriculture hub”, using Cadiz and Batangas ports, in the transport of goods.
He also announced plans to expand and develop further the Cadiz port, which is targeted to start operations by either the end of 2024 or early next year.
As to the celebration of the 50th Dinagsa Festival, Escalante said he expects it to boost the local economy, as they are anticipating it to generate P500 million to P700 million.
“We welcome everybody, and we see to it that we will be able to provide what the visitors expect from us,” he stressed. That is why they keep on coming back, Escalante said.
The mayor said he even requested the management of Vallacar Transit Incorporated, operator of Ceres Liner passenger buses, to have 200 trips or more than their regular trips to cater to visitors of the Dinagsa Festival.
We tried to answer the needs of our visitors. That is why they keep on coming back, he added.
Escalante also announced that they managed to shorten the processing of business permits from 15 minutes to 11 minutes.
“We are demonstrating a capacity to provide an ease-in-doing business across all sectors,” the mayor said, adding “It also boosts our city’s newest investment-slash-tourism campaign tagline – “Cadiz City: Land of Splendid Opportunities.” (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
