Posted on 08:38 PM, February 03, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
BY FRANCIS ALLAN L. ANGELO, Correspondent
ILOILO CITY -- Ayala Land, Inc. will break ground in March for an information technology (IT) park here.
Ayala’s Iloilo TechnoHub project will be operational by November this year, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas said.
He said Ayala Land had scheduled the opening of the TechnoHub in the last quarter of 2010 in time for the completion of the 164-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Global Business Power Corp.
“We have solved the problem of expensive and limited power supply which has been driving BPO (business process outsourcing) investors away. Now, we have to solve the lack of facilities for locators that we expect to flock the city. It’s a good thing that Ayala Land decided to put up the hub here and we also encourage our land developers to address the shortage of BPO office spaces,” Mr. Treñas said.
Mr. Treñas said the TechnoHub’s location is strategic because it is near the leisure area of the city.
Aside from the TechnoHub, La Plazuela de Iloilo of the Florete Group of Companies (owner of the Bombo Radyo network) is expected to be operational and available to BPO firms in October.
Developer Megaworld Corp. is also planning to put up an IT park on the 54-hectare old Iloilo airport lot in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.
The TechnoHub will be constructed on a two-hectare property on Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Avenue in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. It is located near the Smallville Business and Leisure Park and the Boardwalk Leisure Center.
Ayala Land’s corporate Web site said the Iloilo TechnoHub would be composed of three buildings with support facilities and amenities for (BPO) firms. Each building will have an area of at least 7,500 square meters (sq. m.).
The Iloilo BPO Building, the TechnoHub’s maiden structure, is envisioned to be a three-storey “Grade-A” facility. There will also be approximately 500 to 700 sq. m. of arcaded retail spaces at the ground floor.
The BPO building will have a total area of 3,000 sq. m. per floor while the gross leasable area per floor is 2,500 to 2,700 sq. m.
The TechnoHub also features 200% back-up power and structured cabling backbone for multiple data and telecommunication service providers.
The hub will be registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to give locators tax perks.
Iloilo City, one of the 10 “next-wave” cities for outsourcing, hosts nine BPOs with more than 4,000 workers.
These include Teletech, ePLDT Ventus, Callbox Customer Contact Center, Global Mega Communications, Inc., Techno Call Corp., Interactive Voice Call Center, Medlink Trans Services, Eversun Software Philippines Corp. and Savant Technologies.
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