Speaking before newsmen the other day, Garcia said local and foreign investors are keenly evaluating and analyzing business profitability and big prospect in the manufacturing outlook in the fast growing investment hub in Central Luzon.
He said potential growth in the industrial sector is expected to soar this year as numerous trade missions from Asian, European and American businessmen have included the Bataan peninsula as excellent business site for labor-intensive projects.
Foreign investors can maximize their competitive stance when they familiarize themselves with the benefits including relatively advantageous tax incentives and wider access to the markets they can get from the biggest performing ecozone in the country, Garcia said.
The former Bataan solon, who introduced business reforms and generous tax incentives for locators at the Authority Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB), believes manufacturing is the backbone of economic prosperity and job generations.
The forerunner of AFAB, Bataan Export Processing Zone (BEPZ) failed to realize its goal of accelerating socio-economic development in the early ‘70’s due to militant labor unrest and political instability resulting to massive relocation of a large number of industrial firms from Mariveles town to the Peoples’ Republic of China.
Citing his vision, Garcia said that Bataan will be the preferred location for eco-industrial investments by year 2020, “we are also managing to pull new manufacturing investments with substantial improvements in local governance and environment “, the provincial executive added.
Garcia explained the availability of highly–skilled workforce and professionals for the establishment of industrial firms is the result of the successful scholarship program initiated by his father, District 2 Rep. Enrique T. Garcia, Jr., since 2005.
In encouraging investors, the local government authority is now focusing on promoting the five ecozones with the completion of foreign-funded power plants in about three years that will ensure the stable supply and competitive power rates of manufacturing and commercial establishments in Bataan.
Local businessmen have predicted that the transformation of the five ecozones in Mariveles, Limay, Hermosa and Morong towns into industrial economic hubs will provide continuous opportunities for employment and prosperity for the future of the youth in Bataan.
