MANILA โ The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has registered 23 new projects worth PHP15 billion in April 2024 alone.
The investment approvals for this month were higher than the total project registrations from January to March 2024 amounting to PHP14.95 billion.
In a statement Monday, PEZA reported that the 23 new projects registered with the investment promotion agency this month consisted of eight in export manufacturing, six in information technology and business process management, two in facility enterprises, one in logistics, and six in ecozone development.
โThese projects are also anticipated to generate USD69.778 million worth of exports and provide 3,254 Filipino jobs,โ PEZA said.
For the first four months of the year, total approved investments in PEZA reached PHP29.955 billion which would contribute an additional USD1.09 billion in export revenues, and create 14,812 direct employment in the country.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the agency remains optimistic that these investment registrations with PEZA would continue to increase following the official foreign trips of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who is promoting the Philippines as โthe smart investment choiceโ among multinational companies.
โFostering the whole of government approach with the support of our Board members from key government agencies and offices such as DOF, DOE, DILG, DOLE, NEDA, DENR, DPWH, DTI-BOI, and DOST, PEZAโs approved projects will result to mutualistic benefits for international relations, and continually champion the Philippines as Asiaโs premier investment destination,โ Panga said.
Eco-Industrial parks
At the sidelines of the Eco-Industrial Parks and Green Technologies Forum in its headquarters in Pasay City Monday, Panga told reporters that more ecozone developers are subscribing to the โeco-industrial parkโ model or EIP advocated by the United Nations for Industrial Development Organization, the World Bank Group, and Germanyโs development agency Gesellschaft fรผr Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
โThey subscribe to circular economy, Sustainable Development Goal, energy efficiency,โ Panga said.
He added that at least 10 PEZA ecozones are self-sustaining and promote green development development.
โThis is the standard of ecozone model now. Kasi ung mga locator companies the weโve been hosting inside the economic zones are now demanding that they now see all these elements in the economic zones. Like you must have embedded power, access to clean and green production, renewable energy,โ Panga said.
โSo, without these facilities inside the economic zone, they can no longer become competitive, because weโre up against other ecozones in ASEAN that are also aided by the different donors pushing for clean and green agenda,โ he added. (PNA)
