The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said Monday that the 13 pending economic zones it recorded as of October are expected to bring in investments amounting to more than P17 billion.
Peza Officer-in-Charge Tereso O. Panga said the investment promotion agency is looking forward to having the 13 pending economic zones proclaimed by the current administration.
“Peza currently has 13 pending economic zones that we look forward to be proclaimed by the current administration. One is already endorsed to the Office of President Marcos, while 12 are endorsed to the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI],” Panga said in a statement.
“These 13 pending ecozones are expected to bring in investments amounting to P17,924,887,016.72,” he added.
Panga said there are seven pending manufacturing ecozones, four for IT Parks Centers, one for the Knowledge, Innovation, Science and Technology Park, and one Agro-industrial ecozone which are all located outside Metro Manila.
As for investments in existing ecozones, the current chief of Peza expressed confidence that this year, “there will be an upturn as we have been getting big-ticket projects enough to recover and even surpass our 2019 [investment] levels.”
Panga divulged these figures at a consultative meeting with the Philippine Ecozones Associations (PHILEA) last November 9. The meeting was intended to discuss the plans, updates and key concerns on economic zone development.
In continued pursuit to carry out the agency’s mandate of attracting investments and implementing the ecozone program nationwide, Panga said, “Peza would not have been a success story without the support from PHILEA.”
For his part, PHILEA President Francisco Zaldarriaga said, “Ecozones are developing communities as well. Part of the ecozones’ core is also community-building.”
Zaldarriaga said that from 1995 to March 2022, total investments from PHILEA ecozones reached P1.13 trillion, generated $411 billion in exports and employed 378,395 workers. With aggressive investment promotions, Panga said he is confident that Peza could achieve its investment growth target of 6 to 7 percent for this year.
“Just last month, the LISP closed a project with a data center with P2.4 billion of investments. Another big-ticket is currently in talks with Suntrust,” he said.
Meanwhile, at the recent investment forum in Taiwan and South Korea, Panga said big-ticket projects from Taiwan and South Korea are ready to apply and register with the Peza.