PEZA on track to hit ambitious 30-ecozone target for 2025
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga (PEZA photo)
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is on track to meet its ambitious target of welcoming up to 30 economic zones (ecozones) this year.
With nearly two months left in the year, PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the investment promotion agency still expects the presidential proclamation for at least 14 new ecozones.
“We're awaiting 14 more proclamations to be happening hopefully within the year, so that we're still on track with the ambitious target of having 30 proclamations within the year,” Panga told reporters.
Panga earlier said Palawan Mega Ecozone would be among the ecozones proclaimed this year, but he now said it will likely happen next year.
The project is a joint undertaking of PEZA and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), which oversees the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan. Of which, 28,000 hectares will be allotted to the ecozone.
Panga said the initial 4,000 hectares have already been turned over to the agency for conversion purposes.
He said the groundbreaking for the first phase of development is scheduled next month.
Panga also said he is gunning for a public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement for the ecozone, in which the government offers land as equity while developers invest in facilities.
This scheme will pave the way for packets of development to meet the needs of agro-processing companies that require substantial land for their plantation and processing plants.
The PEZA recently reported that 12 cities and municipalities across the country have submitted proposals to establish ecozones, reflecting their critical role in driving trade and investment growth.
Local governments view ecozones as a massive boost to their communities, as these integrate their economies into global value chains.
Ecozones, once proclaimed by the president, provide benefits to locators, such as relaxed requirements, free flow of parts, components, and other inputs, and open trade with companies within and outside the ecozone.
Under the Philippine Development Plan, the PEZA is tasked to expedite the implementation of the ecozone transformation roadmap.
The roadmap expands the types of special economic zones that can be registered under PEZA to include agroforestry, defense, and halal.