Metro Pacific eyes IT zone project in Fort Boni

Metro Pacific Corp., the Philippine flagship of Hong Kong's First Pacific Group, will vie for the development of a 72-hectare baseland property within the Fort Bonifacio area being eyed as an information technology (IT) zone.

MPC president and CEO Ricardo Pascua said they are reviewing the terms of reference provided by the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for the eventual sale, lease or joint venture proposals from interested bidders.

Under its asset disposition program, BCDA expects to generate at least P20 billion in additional revenues from the property auction, which has drawn the interest of a number of huge property firms.

The lot is expected to fetch a minimum bid of P30,000 per square meter.

Among those studying the TOR are SM Prime Holdings, Megaworld Corp. and Century Properties. In addition, those that have earlier expressed interest were Ayala Land, JG Summit Holdings and the Fil-Estate Group.

The land parcel is a non-contiguous area consisting of a 50-ha. lot in Fort Bonifacio and 22 has. within the adjacent Villamor Air Base.

The BCDA has scheduled a pre-qualification conference on Monday, March 6, to present the guidelines and possibly trim down the list.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority has approved the project as a special economic zone, which means both the project developers and locators can avail of generous tax and non-tax incentives from the government.

There are only two IT zones operating in the country thus far: Megaworld subsidiary Eastwood City Cyber Park in Quezon City and the Filinvest Alabang Corporate City, both of which approved by the first semester last year.

MPC's bid either through the Bonifacio Land Corp. consortium or Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) joint venture with BCDA, has an inside track in the project since it is already in the final stages of the development of the 214-ha. Bonifacio Global City, which was won in a similar bidding in 1995.