Sarangani town seeks expansion of ecozone area

MANILA, Philippines - The town of Maasim in Sarangani is seeking to expand its existing economic zone to accommodate the strong interest of the private sector to locate in the area, its top executive said.

In an interview, Maasim Mayor Aniceto P. Lopez Jr. said there is a deluge of companies in different industries sending intent letters to locate in the Kamanga Agro-Industrial Economic Zone (KAIEZ).

Among those companies is local cement maker Holcim Philippines and some textile companies from Cebu and Davao.

“The local government is proposing to Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to expand the ecozone to 500 hectares,” he said.

“Basing on the number of interested locators, the existing 60-hectare ecozone will not be enough,” the mayor added.

The 54.6-hectare KAIEZ is one of the two ecozones in the province of Sarangani. It is operated by Kamanga Agro-Industrial Ecozone Development Corp., which is part of the Alcantara Group.

Currently, 28 hectares is being occupied by the 201-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant of Alsons Powers Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC), which is also part of the Alcantara Group.

Alsons Power project implementation vice president and head of coal operations Nicandro Fucoy said the group is inviting other locators to the ecozone.