Vol. XXI, No. 243 [ Business World Online ]
Friday, July 11, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Local governments and business leaders in three coastal towns in Sarangani are pushing for a passage of a bill to create a special economic zone as a strategy to attract investors.
A draft proposal BusinessWorld obtained showed that stakeholders want to establish the Maasim-Kiamba-Maitum Industrial Triangle (Makima-IT) Special Economic Zone.
Rey Ernesto N. Millan, the ecozone’s advocacy advisor, admitted, however, that a lot of work has to be done in case the proposal gets congressional approval.
"Infrastructure support facilities such as buildings are not yet in place. Basically, there’s a lot of construction development work to be done," he said.
Mr. Millan said that lone Sarangani Rep. Erwin L. Chiongbian has expressed his interest of sponsoring the bill in the House of Representatives. The lawmaker could not be reached for confirmation as of press time.
Makima-IT hopes to replicate the successes of special economic zones like Subic and Clark, which Mr. Millan said had been "lucky" since they inherited the facilities left by American forces.
Local government, business, and nongovernment leaders have toured Clark and Subic in three batches in the past several months to learn lessons. They visited, among others, a coal-fired power plant in Clark in Pampanga province.
The Alcantara-led Conal Holdings Corporation plans to build a similar plant in Maasim town with an initial capacity of 200 megawatts valued at $450 million. It is called the Kamanga Power Plant project, which environmental and religious groups have been opposing on environmental and health grounds.
But local governments in Sarangani hope that the project will pave the way for the entry of industries in the proposed Makima-IT special economic zone.
Mr. Millan said the special economic zone will be run like an "independent territory," such as having its own police force under the ecozone’s authority.
A brief for the proposed Makima-IT special economic zone cited benefits like increased economic activity, not only in host municipalities, but also other areas that will provide manpower, raw materials and other resources the ecozone will need; enhanced economic and business networks and international linkages. Under the proposal, locators to the envisioned ecozone will get incentives like income tax holiday of six to 20 years, as well as tax-free importation of capital equipment, machineries, parts, supplies, breeding stocks and genetic materials, among other production inputs. — Romer S. Sarmiento
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