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News Top Stories Developer targets BPO firms in Mactan
News Top Stories Developer targets BPO firms in Mactan
| Developer targets BPO firms in Mactan |
| Sunday, 13 July 2008 22:26 | ||||||
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Andoni F. Aboitiz, president and chief operating officer of AboitizLand Inc., said the new building called Imez is a five-storey commercial hub with a total gross leasable area of 5,000 square meters. “We aim to attract not the call center companies but the real BPO players,” he told reporters on Monday. Aboitiz said talks are underway for four to five foreign companies to become the building's prospective locators. He was referring to companies that require higher-level knowledge work like software developers and medical-legal transcription services. In an official statement, Aboitiz said Imez will house retail shops in the ground floor while BPO companies will occupy the second to fifth floors. Each floor covers a total area of 1,000 square meters. Because it is located inside MEZ 2, Aboitiz said the building is also designed to provide 200 percent back-up power supply. MEZ 2 is developed and operated by AboitizLand under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme of the landowner, Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority. Since it is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority locators enjoy tax incentives such as corporate income tax exemption for four years to a maximum of eight years as well as tax credit for import substitution. MEZ 2 has a total project area of 63.30 hectares. Of that figure, around 50.36 hectares is allocated for industrial companies, 1.94 hectares for commercial spaces and 11 hectares for common facilities or utilities. Aboitiz, who described their management of the economic zone as “successful,” said MEZ 2 currently has 48 locators composed mostly of American and Japanese companies. It employs an estimated 18,000 workers. Aboitiz said they are more confident in opening spaces and buildings for companies in the service industry rather than the manufacturing industry. “We're not a competitive country for manufacturing. Our power rates for instance are expensive,” he said, adding that countries like Vietnam and China offer lower labor cost than the Philippines. Although the cost of construction materials continues to increase, Aboitiz said they have not decided to increase the unit prices of their residential developments such as The Persimmon in Barangay (village) Mabolo, Cebu City and Kishanta Residences in Talisay City. “It depends on how a developer handles or absorbs the cost of the increase. The (increasing) cost of construction materials has been affecting our (profit) margins but we can't change price. The Persimmon for instance is already 70 percent sold,” he said. In the same interview, Aboitiz said AboitizLand will open a new phase for Kishanta on October 2008 by adding another 12 hectares to the 16-hectare residential development. While the company enjoys steady growth at present, Aboitiz said the current situation is very challenging for the real estate industry. “People are more careful now. They are still buying but they are asking more questions,” he said.
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