Camarines Sur launches smart city project

MANILA, Philippines — An expansive hub for business, leisure and wellness is rising in the capital town of Pili in Camarines Sur, laying the platform for the province’s transformation as the next smart city development in Luzon.

The 200-hectare CamSur Uptown, formally launched last week, will host mixed-use commercial buildings, a digital campus, an artificial intelligence laboratory, logistics and manufacturing facilities, resorts and parks, medical and lifestyle centers and a golf course.

CamSur Gov. LRay Villafuerte said the master-planned global city is envisioned to be a seat for business, governance and investments outside the national capital and an infrastructure hub for information technology in the country.

“CamSur Uptown promises to be even better than Bonifacio Global City as it is envisioned to become a premier hub for business, technology, governance and investments that will bring digital education, modern or hi-tech jobs and now untrodden possibilities for high growth in CamSur,” he said.

At the center of CamSur Uptown is the new Capitol Building, whose iconic design was inspired by the globally known Bicol pride, the pili nut.

CamSur Uptown will also be the site for the country’s first local government-partnered, state-of-the-art Digital Transformation Center (DTC) with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) that will propel the province into a “premier hub for world-class IT infrastructure” in the Philippines.

“This planned digital campus will mark a historic milestone as the first Level 4 flagship facility that the DICT is putting up in partnership with a provincial LGU under the Department’s Tech4ED-DTC program,” Villafuerte said.

Also part of CamSur Uptown is the tech-focused School of the Future, which is nearing completion and will soon be equipped with world-class facilities designed to upskill young Camsureños in digital technology, AI, data analytics, cybersecurity and other future-ready know-how to enable them to compete, innovate and lead in the global cyberspace.

Moreover, Villafuerte had invited investor and sports groups to partner with the provincial government in putting up the country’s first-ever tennis academy at CamSur Uptown, with an eye to nurturing more world-class Filipino athletes to follow in the footsteps of tennis ace Alex Eala.