Hijo breaks ground on township, plans P1-B investment
TAGUM CITY — Hijo Resouces Corp. (HRC) launched its 760-hectare (ha) industrial estate in Madaum here on Friday, with a projected investment of P1 billion, half of which will be spent over the next two years.
HRC, in partnership with Sta. Lucia Land, Inc., will start developing within the next three months the residential component of the Hijo Industrial Estates, which already has an existing 320-ha leisure and tourism complex as well as the Hijo International Ports Service (HIPS).
The houses are initially for the staff of the estate’s locators.
HRC Property Development Director Eduardo C. Abores said the first locator, which bought seven hectares, is the La Filipina Uy Gongco group, a diversified firm with interests in agricultural products, food, real estate development, and logistics.
“Today is where we announce to the world that it is business as usual in Mindanao,” HRC Chief Executive Officer and President Rosanna Tuason-Fores said during the groundbreaking ceremonies, noting that they expect to generate around 20,000 jobs for the initial phase of the estate’s development.
She said they decided to push through with the launching “amidst the conflict in Marawi, declaration of martial law in Mindanao and subsequent travel advisories both foreign and domestic that would question our timing” to show Hijo’s commitment and resolve in fulfilling the potentials that Mindanao promises.
“We are confident the issue of peace and order is temporary and we will find lasting peace and order in Mindanao, once and for all,” Ms. Fores added.
HRC, established in 1969 and a pioneer in Cavendish banana export to Japan, envisions the Hijo Industrial Estates as a hub within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for light to medium export-oriented industries with complementary commercial and institutional establishments.
Development for the HIPS, a joint venture between HRC and International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), is planned for launching later this year.
Ms. Fores said after HRC lost 30% of its banana exports due to typhoon Pablo (international name: Bopha) in December 2012 and has not really recovered since in terms of production, ICTSI decided to review and redesign HIPS and its operations to cover both containerized vessels and general cargo.
HIPS is a 54-hectare deepsea port with a 13-meter draft and originally designed to handle containerized and breakbulk cargoes. It is a Philippine Economic Zone Authorityaccredited area with an initial terminal capacity of 450,000 twenty- foot equivalent units ( TEU) plus another 650,000 TEU for expansion.
“With the ASEAN integration and better working relationship with BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area)… we will be able to exchange raw materials, bring it to the industrial estate and ship them out for export,” Ms. Fores said.
She pointed out that in the Davao region, 90% of containers come in empty as majority of the exports are fresh banana and pineapple.
“There is a great opportunity for this logistics gap, where you can bring in raw materials from our neighboring countries, value add or process and re-export. Definitely there will be a logistics opportunity there,” she added.
Tagum City is planned to be the location of a depot for the first phase of the Mindanao Railway project that will run from Digos City in Davao del Sur to Tagum, passing through Davao City.