SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—A South Korean-led company has received approval from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for the development of a P3.6-billion golf course and hotel and leisure facilities complex in the Subic Bay Freeport.
By Henry Empeño
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| In Photo: Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator and CEO Wilma Eisma (third from left) and DM Leisure President Suyong Kim (second from left) sign a lease and development agreement for a P3.6-billion golf course and leisure complex in the Subic Bay Freeport. Signing as witnesses are a senior DM Leisure official and SBMA Director Tomas Lahom III (right). |
DM Leisure Corp., a group headed by Hana Tour Philippines President Byung-cheol Kim, has committed to infuse a minimum investment of P3.6 billion for the project that will include the development and operation of a golf course, hotel, water theme parks and other leisure and tourism facilities, as well as the subleasing and sales of villas and condominium units.
SBMA Administrator and CEO Wilma Eisma on Tuesday said the SBMA board of directors has approved the proposal and that she had signed last week a 20-page lease and development agreement for the project with Suyong Kim, president of the
proponent company.
Eisma added the proposed leisure complex will be built in a 200-hectare portion of Subic Freeport’s Tipo Area, which is located at the end of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
“We expect it to be another grand tourist destination in the region, another magnet for more downline businesses and employment, as well as another distinctive landmark for the evolving Subic Freeport Zone,” Eisma said.
“It will further boost ecotourism in Subic, bolster investment and increase livelihood opportunities in the area,” she added.
She also noted the project will be most accessible because its location would put it within a two-hour drive from Manila via the North Luzon Expressway, and about 45 minutes from Clark Freeport via SCTEx.
The approved project proposal said DM Leisure Corp. will allot P2.6 billion as development commitment out of its minimum investment of P3.6 billion.
The project, scheduled to be completed within eight years or in 2025, will be developed in three phases: An 18-hole golf course and clubhouse in a 120-hectare area for the first phase; hotel, villas and commercial complex in a 67-hectare area for the second phase; and indoor and outdoor water theme parks, other tourism and leisure facilities, and condominium units within a 13-hectare area in the final phase.
The first phase of the project will be finished within two years, or by 2019; the second before the end of 2022; and the third by 2025.
Meanwhile, the project also spells good news for local residents, Eisma said, because DM Leisure will need about 1,000 workers during the construction of the various facilities, and a minimum of 1,000 employees upon project completion to undertake various operations in the leisure complex.
“DM Leisure is among the positive results of our intensified marketing and promotion campaign to convince investors and business communities from our neighbor countries to invest in Subic,” said Eisma, who recently spoke in Philippine investment road shows in Taiwan and Australia.
She added that with the entry of more investors in the Subic Bay Freeport, the SBMA will be working with local government units (LGUs) nearby to start developing light industrial parks and tourism and commercial areas, as demand for bigger spaces rises along with the influx of investments.
Eisma said that, under Executive Order 675, the new investment areas to be created within the nearby communities will become an extension of the Subic Bay Freeport.
The order, which took effect in November 2007, allowed LGUs, through their respective local councils, to declare any part of their jurisdiction as additional secured area of the Subic Bay Special Economic and Freeport Zone, which shall be organized, administered, managed and operated directly by the SBMA.
First Published: businessmirror.com.ph