Friday, November 27, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
CEBU CITY -- Ayala Land affiliate Cebu Holdings, Inc. is seeking the conversion of the 50-hectare Cebu Business Park into a special economic zone for information technology (IT) to boost the marketability of the remaining lots there and accommodate “spillover” investments from Asiatown IT Park.
Francis O. Monera, Cebu Holdings president, said the firm has filed an application before the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) two months ago and Cebu City Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña has already endorsed it.
Mr. Monera said having the business park declared an IT ecozone would allow Cebu Holdings to entice IT-related companies to acquire lots and locate there. There are still nine commercial lots, with sizes ranging from 1,056 to 1,816 square meters, available at the park, data from the firm’s Web site showed.
There are seven buildings within the park that are registered as IT ecozone buildings, including a high-rise office tower and a seven-storey advanced technology center built by Lexmark Research and Development Corp.
The others are the HDMF-WTCI IT Tower, Keppel Center, Cebu IT Tower (which hosts the Wipro BPO Philippines call center), Innove Plaza and Pioneer House (which hosts Accenture’s delivery center in Cebu).
On top of the incentives provided by PEZA, a Cebu City ordinance in 2004 exempts these buildings from local taxes, except real property tax.
“Not all locators will be given incentives, but only the BPOs and those that are IT-related,” Mr. Monera said.
The centerpiece of the business park is a 9.6-hectare retail zone, where the Ayala Center Cebu shopping center is located. The park also hosts office buildings, the Cebu City Marriott Hotel, a sports center, and residential condominium buildings.
Mr. Monera said the firm opted for the conversion of the park into an IT ecozone instead of scouting for another property that will be developed into a cyberpark.
The 24-hectare Asiatown IT Park, the flagship project of Cebu Holdings subsidiary Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp., is sold out.
Cebu Property Ventures is now developing a five-hectare expansion area. Since there is limited land for sale at Asiatown, Cebu Property Ventures has shifted from selling lots to constructing office buildings for business process outsourcing companies through a special purpose vehicle.
Asian I-Office Properties, Inc., a special purpose vehicle of Cebu Property Ventures and the Ayala Land, Inc. Corporate Business Group, completed its first mid-rise BPO building at Asiatown early this year and is planning to build a second building at the cyberpark’s expansion area next year.
The first building, dubbed the eBloc Tower, hosts the Chase Card Services Center of JP Morgan Chase & Co. and the research and development facility of NCR Cebu Development Center, Inc. -- Marites S. Villamor
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