MTD Phl eyeing to build other government centers
Malaysian conglomerate Alloy MTD Group through local unit MTD Philippines Inc. is looking to build more government centers in the country in areas such as Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Batangas and Surigao at a cost of about P1.5 billion each.
“We have plans. We are negotiating. Of course, we are submitting proposals. It has to be evaluated properly. It has to go through the proper procurement process,” MTD Philippines president Patrick Nicholas David told reporters.
While there was a proposal to build a government center for Camarines Sur, he said the provincial government decided to undertake the development on its own.
“We’re looking at P1.5 billion per center. That’s the amount of investment we are looking at because if you spend P500 million and P1 billion, you’ll have the same administrative cost,” he said.
Under the partnership with government agencies, MTD Philippines spends for building the government center, while the agency provides the land.
In exchange for the use of the government center, the government agency would pay MTD Philippines rent.
MTD Philippines built the one-stop shop regional government for Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) covering a three-hectare area in Calamba City.
It is also behind the construction of the three-hectare Palayan City government center and central business hub or Palayan City Business Hub (PCBH) in Nueva Ecija, which would have national government agencies and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms including Sutherland Global Services as locators.
PCBH was declared as a special economic zone and MTD Philippines would be operating the project for the next 30 years.
The company is likewise constructing the one-stop shop government center and business hub in Bataan which would host not just offices of government agencies, but BPO firms as well.
In January, the firm broke ground on the 220-hectare National Government Administrative Center (NGAC), a project being undertaken in partnership with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority within the New Clark City.
The first phase of NGAC would involve the construction of back-up offices of various government agencies, a world-class sports complex to serve as one of the venues for the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the latter part of next year, as well as government housing and commercial spaces.
David said the company decided to get involved in the business of building government centers due to the need to provide ease in doing business.
Citing the company’s experience in operating the South Luzon Expressway prior to its sale to San Miguel Corp. and the Citra Group of Indonesia, he said the firm had to go to the Department of Public Works and Highways office in Quezon City to secure permits and other documents even if they were in the Calabarzon area.
“It’s ease of doing business which we’re lacking. This, we’re hoping it improves. We don’t have to spend time, money to go around cities, from one city to the next or one town to the next just to get documents. We are envisioning that if you’re opening a business, you go to one building and everything is there… With one-stop centers, you come in with all your documents. Probably, you will finish in one, two days, rather than one, two months,” said David.