Aboitiz ecozone expansion set for next year

Construction in the planned expansion of the Aboitiz Group’s 800-hectare economic zone in Batangas could begin as early as the middle of next year, paving the way for the economic hub to nearly double its land area and its capacity to host locator companies.LIMA Land Inc. industrial business operations head Aldwin Chester Dumago said the planned expansion may start once they are finished with the ongoing expansion of the industrial areas within the current borders of the economic zone.“It is possible that by the middle of next year, if [the current expansion within the ecozone] is fully taken up already and it has been Peza-proclaimed, then we might need to start the construction,” Dumago told reporters last week during a site visit at the economic zone in the Southern Tagalog region.

“The development of a hundred-hectare property takes maybe nine to 12 months, around that. It depends on the terrain,” he added.

The LIMA Land official said that the expansion will still be heavily geared toward industrial activities, with some areas allotted for commercial and residential districts.

He added that it will also double, at the very least, the number of jobs that are currently in the existing areas in the economic zone, providing more employment opportunities for people in the area as well as for nonlocals. INQ