By Franco Regala
CANDELARIA, Zambales — A P10-billion world-class tourism project will soon rise in this tiny mineral-rich northern part of the province, which would spark another attraction not only for local tourists but as well the international community, authorities said here over the weekend.
The project, dubbed Uacon Lake Resort Complex Project (ULRCP), will be put up right into Uacon Lake, a scenic-laden scape for leisure, pleasure and living, and a potent gateway support to the now famous Potipot Island of Candelaria.
Funded through Private Public Partnership (PPP) which is a joint venture initiative by the government and its partners — the Chinese state-owned company Shanghai Dredging and Development Corporation and that of the International Retirement Village Corporation or Home Care, a Japan-based subsidiary, the giant project would eventually become a haven to all nature loving tourists especially the environmentalists.
Mayor Napoleon Edquid has confirmed the multi-billion peso project, saying that this flagship tourism project under the Duterte administration’s build-build program will jump start in September this year.
“We were able to gain the resident's nod after long, tumultuous dialogues and public hearings regarding the project and importance into their lives in terms of livelihood, income and progress to their community, the town and the country as well,” he said.
The project site is a natural lake approximately 1.9 sq. kilometers (190 hectares in area) which is strategically located in the northwest part of Zambales that lies parallel to Gapan-Olongapo-Bugallon Highway link. It is more or less some 100 kilometers away from Olongapo City and the Subic Freeport Zone.