New airport, casino hub rising in Cagayan
A different type of wind is fast sweeping into Sta. Ana in Cagayan province, a once-sleepy coastal town that hugs the northeastern most tip of Luzon island. They are not the same hot, dry Sta. Ana winds that blow over Los Angeles and San Diego County in southern California during autumn. They are the winds of change that may soon transform the fifth-class municipality into one of the busiest economic corridors in the Philippines.
First Cagayan Resort and Leisure Corp. is developing a world-class casino complex in the town after signing early this year a 25-year lease agreement over an 18-hectare lot with the local government of Sta. Ana. First Cagayan, under the agreement, committed an initial capital outlay of P1 billion to develop the land-based facility.
The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, meanwhile, has signed a lease agreement with the Navy for the development of an airstrip (near Port Irene), which sits on a property owned by the Armed Forces. The grapevine said development of the airstrip, or feeder airport, was being rushed along with the construction of the two-story casino complex to address the needs of potential tourists and gamblers from Taiwan and China.
10-year development plan
The casino complex and the airstrip is actually part of the 10-year development plan of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port, which First Cagayan wants to implement. First Cagayan president Alfredo Benitez earlier said the plan aimed to create “a self-sustaining, eco-friendly industrial zone and mixed use township development in the Cagayan Freeport,” with tourism and leisure as the lead sector to be developed.
“Topping the priority list is the construction and operation of a casino-resort complex that will jumpstart the development and leisure sector in the Cagayan Freeport,” Benitez said in the First Cayagan Web site.
A number of people will likely be skeptical of First Cagayan’s ambitious project because of the province’s remote location but the company has surprisingly more to offer. First Cagayan is also investing billions of pesos to develop IT and telecommunication facilities in Sta. Ana for interactive gambling. Ceza has extended the appointment of First Cagayan as master licensor for interactive gaming.
“It’s a 25-year extension as exclusive master licensor,” said First Cagayan lawyer Katrina Nepomuceno in the same Web site.
Port Irene, meanwhile, will remain the center of operation in the free port until the completion of the casino complex. The port since last year has been unloading hundreds of used vehicles from Japan and South Korea, tons of urea and other fertilizer products and thousands of motorbikes on a duty-free basis.
Port Irene magnet
Port Irene has displaced the Subic Free Port as the major source of used vehicle imports. “This is like Subic, all your papers will easily be processed in a one-stop shop center,” one prospective buyer earlier told this writer.
This is not surprising because Port Irene importers of used vehicles are the same group that transacts business in the Subic Freeport. One can buy a three- to four-year-old Honda Odyssey sports utility vehicle in Port Irene for P400,000 or less, inclusive of tax and Land Transportation Office registration fee and the cost for converting the unit from right-hand to left-hand drive.
The Port Irene shipments have boosted the economy of northeastern Cagayan, where the cost of living is cheap and where one can buy a kilo of yellow fin tuna for P40 per kilo.
Ceza administrator and chief executive Jose Maria Ponce, like his predecessor Rodolfo Reyes, meanwhile, has been aggressively promoting the zone as the country’s northernmost gateway to Asia and the United States. The area is a mere 45-minute flight from Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest industrial and shipping center, and much the same distance from Hong Kong.
Ceza offers fiscal incentives such as four to six-year income tax holiday, tax and duty-free importation of capital equipment, a special tax rate of 5 percent of gross income in lieu of all local and national taxes, tax credits for foreign corporations and effective zero-rating for articles admitted to the zone from the customs territory under proper permit.
Ray Enano - Manila Standard Today
First Cagayan Resort and Leisure Corp. is developing a world-class casino complex in the town after signing early this year a 25-year lease agreement over an 18-hectare lot with the local government of Sta. Ana. First Cagayan, under the agreement, committed an initial capital outlay of P1 billion to develop the land-based facility.
The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, meanwhile, has signed a lease agreement with the Navy for the development of an airstrip (near Port Irene), which sits on a property owned by the Armed Forces. The grapevine said development of the airstrip, or feeder airport, was being rushed along with the construction of the two-story casino complex to address the needs of potential tourists and gamblers from Taiwan and China.
10-year development plan
The casino complex and the airstrip is actually part of the 10-year development plan of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Free Port, which First Cagayan wants to implement. First Cagayan president Alfredo Benitez earlier said the plan aimed to create “a self-sustaining, eco-friendly industrial zone and mixed use township development in the Cagayan Freeport,” with tourism and leisure as the lead sector to be developed.
“Topping the priority list is the construction and operation of a casino-resort complex that will jumpstart the development and leisure sector in the Cagayan Freeport,” Benitez said in the First Cayagan Web site.
A number of people will likely be skeptical of First Cagayan’s ambitious project because of the province’s remote location but the company has surprisingly more to offer. First Cagayan is also investing billions of pesos to develop IT and telecommunication facilities in Sta. Ana for interactive gambling. Ceza has extended the appointment of First Cagayan as master licensor for interactive gaming.
“It’s a 25-year extension as exclusive master licensor,” said First Cagayan lawyer Katrina Nepomuceno in the same Web site.
Port Irene, meanwhile, will remain the center of operation in the free port until the completion of the casino complex. The port since last year has been unloading hundreds of used vehicles from Japan and South Korea, tons of urea and other fertilizer products and thousands of motorbikes on a duty-free basis.
Port Irene magnet
Port Irene has displaced the Subic Free Port as the major source of used vehicle imports. “This is like Subic, all your papers will easily be processed in a one-stop shop center,” one prospective buyer earlier told this writer.
This is not surprising because Port Irene importers of used vehicles are the same group that transacts business in the Subic Freeport. One can buy a three- to four-year-old Honda Odyssey sports utility vehicle in Port Irene for P400,000 or less, inclusive of tax and Land Transportation Office registration fee and the cost for converting the unit from right-hand to left-hand drive.
The Port Irene shipments have boosted the economy of northeastern Cagayan, where the cost of living is cheap and where one can buy a kilo of yellow fin tuna for P40 per kilo.
Ceza administrator and chief executive Jose Maria Ponce, like his predecessor Rodolfo Reyes, meanwhile, has been aggressively promoting the zone as the country’s northernmost gateway to Asia and the United States. The area is a mere 45-minute flight from Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest industrial and shipping center, and much the same distance from Hong Kong.
Ceza offers fiscal incentives such as four to six-year income tax holiday, tax and duty-free importation of capital equipment, a special tax rate of 5 percent of gross income in lieu of all local and national taxes, tax credits for foreign corporations and effective zero-rating for articles admitted to the zone from the customs territory under proper permit.
Ray Enano - Manila Standard Today
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
7:15 AM
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