Cebu urged to revive CEDZ bid

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) encourages Cebu to revive proposals for a province-wide economic zone as it is aligned with the government’s ‘countryside first’ agenda.

PEZA director general Charito B. Plaza said in a press conference yesterday that now is a very opportune time to reiterate the Cebu Economic Development Zone (CEDZ) proposal, revive and re-file it while it is still pending at the House of Representatives.

Plaza was in Cebu yesterday to lead the Visayas Ecozone Summit, which aims to identify the possible land areas to be converted to economic zones in every municipality, in every province.

The two-day summit, which officially opened yesterday at the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan, is attended and participated by mayors from all over the Visayas.

Plaza, a frontrunner in revolutionizing the PEZA law to create rich economies in each province or region, said Cebu, is in a good position to lead the bandwagon.

The House Bill 1319, creating the Cebu Special Ecozone and Free Port, has already passed the House's economic affairs committee some six years ago, and stuck in this level until now.

The bill was authored by all of the eight congressmen from Cebu and is jointly supported by local business groups.

The CEDZ is envisioned to be a paradigm of an effective and functioning Public-Private Sector Partnership with the private sector taking the lead and government providing infrastructure and institutional support and contributing part of the needed resources.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), which is the major proponent of the CEDZ bid expressed interest to re-visit or revive the proposal, this time working closely with PEZA.

CCCI president Melanie Ng said that she will discuss this matter with Plaza.

"We are highly energized by the aggressive and strategic plan of PEZA to increase the economic viability of our country by coming up with a comprehensive Philippines Economic Zones Map. This will help investors identify opportunities and will spread development to countryside," said Ng.

Under the leadership of then PEZA director general Lilia de Lima, the proposal was not accepted warmly, stressing that although Cebu needs more economic zones, making Cebu a province- wide ecozone was highly unlikely.

De Lima said that what makes a province-wide ecozone concept difficult is the monitoring of the inflow and outflow of goods, which could be more complicated.

On the contrary, Plaza strongly encourages such concept as this will give multiplier effects in the countryside economies. (FREEMAN)