BALANGA CITY, Bataan – Bataan local government officials led by Governor Albert S. Garcia, officials of Malaysian firm, Alloy MTD, led by its president and chief operating officer Dato Dr. Azmil Khalid, and Engr. Isaac David, president MTD Alloy Philippines Incorporated this morning led the simple ground breaking rites at the Capitol grounds, this City.
The P2.4 billion one-stop-shop government center and business hub that will rise on the 9.6 hectare site of the provincial capitol compound, is expected to generate 20,000 new job opportunities for information technology graduates as well as host government and private offices. Gov. Garcia stressed that the new government center, designed to host national and provincial offices of government line agencies operating in the Province as well as business process outsourcing (BPO) or call centers being developed by the provincial government and MTD Philippines, a subsidiary of the Malaysian conglomerate Alloy MTD would further enhance economic prosperity focusing on the latest information technology scheme in the global market.
Expected to be completely operational by December 2018, Garcia said this innovative development of a one-stop-shop project inside the huge capitol compound is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project hence it will entail no cost, not even a single centavo, on the part of the local government. Further, this concept is geared toward integration of institutional, business, retail and even residential land uses making them readily accessible in one cohesive site leading to harmonious and convenient delivery of basic services to the public.
Governor Garcia said that part of his good governance program is the provision of an effective and efficient one-stop-shop service facility at the provincial level for clients to simplify and fast-track the processing of requirements necessary for setting up business and trading ventures. The operation of a one-stop-shop, about half a kilometer away from the commercial district of the fast growing component city in Central Luzon is expected to minimize information lapses and ensure an enabling environment for investors to locate and engage in sustainable business in the province.
Engr. Enrico Yuson, Bataan Provincial Engineer, said the redevelopment of the provincial capitol complex will have its main entry from capitol drive, flanked on both sides by medium rise buildings with retail commercial frontage .The leaning reflective curtain glass walls of the hotel and BPO buildings will be designed to lessen the mass of these fairly large structures, while the focal point of the provincial capitol compound will be designed to pay tribute to the World War 11 fallen defenders of Bataan who sacrificed their lives for their beloved country. Yuzon added that the imposing landmark structure, symbolic of the remnants of the war, will replicate the ruins of a defensive military fortification that has been refurbished and transformed to depict the re-birth and rise of a once fallen city.
Engr. Alexander M. Baluyot, Bataan Provincial Planning and Development Coordinator and concurrent Provincial Development Council secretary, said that at present, the general land use of the provincial capitol area is solely for institutional. However, with the end goal of the present administration to enhance the entry of entrepreneurs and at the same time improve the level of public service, the conversion of the capitol compound into a mixed-use development is focused on the inevitable economic prosperity and development of Bataan into a leading investment hub in Central Luzon, Baluyot added.
The proposed project, Baluyot pointed out would certainly contribute to higher valuation of the area brought about by the commercialization, business interest and other relevant services rendered by local and national agencies as well as job generation from the foreseeable launching of Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) centers in the province.
The project component includes rehabilitation of the existing Bataan Capitol Building, development of commercial/rentable spaces, parking areas and construction of a leisure park and landscaped grounds.
