BACOLOD CITY”•The development of the 38-hectare economic zone in nearby Silay City, Negros Occidental is expected to start early this year, a local business leader said Monday.
Roberto Montelibano, president of Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the group is waiting for the final valuation for the site previously owned by chamber member Rolando Arnaiz.
Montelibano said the ecozone is mainly for light manufacturing.
“It is now open to interested investors,” he added.
The property adjacent to the Bacolod-Silay airport has been registered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as a special ecozone.
Dubbed the Bacolod-Silay Ecozone and Technopark, the site in Barangay Bagtic has been acquired by the Golden Dragon Agri-Aqua Corp.
The signing of the registration agreement was held last September between PEZA Director General Charito Plaza and Golden Dragon Agri-Aqua president Eric Hernaez in Taguig City.
The registration is provided under Proclamation No. 315 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on Sept. 14, pursuant to Republic Act No. 7916 or the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995.
Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology, witnessed the signing.
She said the Bacolod-Silay Ecozone and Technopark is the 20th presidentially-proclaimed ecozone in the city, and the first mixed-use zone in Negros Occidental.
“The ecozone will now allow the province to attract various types of locators from the information technology, manufacturing, tourism, agro-industrial, retirement villages, and other industries,” Batapa-Sigue added.
Porferio Montesclaros, a trustee of the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers, said the development will spread the economic boom to Silay and Negros Occidental.
“To make this happen, there should be a collaboration between the government and the private sector,” Montescarlos said.
Plaza thanked Hernaez for registering with PEZA, as she encouraged the firm to work hard in attracting investors to create jobs in the countryside.