ASEZA project to generate 300 jobs

CASIGURAN, Aurora , Philippines  – At least 300 people in this coastal town will land employment with the construction of the P437-million corporate campus of the Aurora Special Economic Zone Authority.

Rolly Narciso, president of the New Kanlaon Construction, Inc. which won the bid to construct the corporate campus, said their firm would initially tap the services of highly skilled workers from Manila but they would later on be replaced by local residents after completing a skills training program.

Narciso said that the NKCI has forged a partnership with the Aurora State College of Agriculture for the training of local manpower.   

The project signals the start of a construction boom inside the ASEZA, the only existing economic zone in the Pacific preparatory to its full commercial operations this year.

Narciso said the construction for Phase 1 that involves the corporate campus would require site development of an initial 24 hectares. This would also include development of access roads, installation of underground utilities, water and electrical lines, drainage and sanitation and telephone and cable facilities. 

Vitaliano Sabalo, acting deputy administrator of the ASEZA, told The STAR that the corporate campus, which will house a two-story administration building, a three-star hotel and other amenities, will be finished in 15 months.

Narciso and Sabalo were among the officials who presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the corporate campus project in Sitio Mutyong, Barangay Esteves here. They were joined by Sen. Edgardo Angara, House Deputy Majority Leader Juan Edgardo Angara, Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and other local officials and NKCI chairman and chief executive officer Antonio Evangelista.

Complete amenities

Veronica Vicedo, chief of the ASEZA’s administrative and general services department, said that aside from the administration building and hotel, the corporate campus would also house a clubhouse, a dormitory for workers, and service support buildings. The site is located beside the newly completed airport some 30 minutes drive from the town proper, some three hours from the capital town of Baler and 10 hours from Manila.

Angara, who authored, along with Rep. Angara RA 9490 creating the ASEZA, said that once the economic zone becomes fully operational, the province will become a hub of development in northeastern Luzon covering Aurora, eastern Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino. “If we have a center of commerce, education and transportation, no family in Aurora will become a pauper and we will raise their standard of living,” he said.

He said the presence of an economic zone in the province was the main justification why the national government, led by President Arroyo, poured billions of pesos to lay down infrastructure facilities, such as a tri-modal transport system consisting of an airport, a seaport and road networks.

He said the newly finished P157-million airport constructed by Cavacon Corp. will serve as an international airport featuring a two-kilometer runway that can accommodate large aircrafts.