Matina IT Park to rise in Maa

THE biggest information technology (IT) park in Mindanao will soon rise along Maa Road, Davao City to accommodate more players from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

Jason Magnaye, Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC) chief, said the Matina IT Park will be composed of three buildings with four floors each building.

Magnaye said the first building will nestle in a 3,000-square-meter lot will have its groundbreaking ceremony slated in the last quarter of the year.

He said the project cost for the first building is estimated to be around P100 million.

For the second phase, the building will rise in a 2,000-square-meter lot while the third phase will have a total of 1,500 square meters.

Magnaye said another multinational firm has decided to locate its contact center facility in the city.

"They have already decided in Davao but they are still looking for a possible place," Magnaye said.

The company is looking at either Abreeza Ayala Malls or SM City Davao, two Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) accredited areas.

Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII) president Dr. Maria Lourdes Monteverde earlier urged the City Government of Davao through the local lawmaking body to endorse to Congress the creation of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT).

Monteverde said the endorsement of the City Council will strengthen their stance toward the passage of the DICT Bill as among the top areas for BPO locators in the country.

"Due to strong voice of ICT community of the Philippines progress is slowly being made in the House of Representatives with the DICT Bill passing its third and final reading in the Senate last February 2012," Monteverde said in her speech during the 10th Davao City Business Conference last week.

However, she said the country's executive department relegated the ICT as part of the Department of Science and Industry (DOST).

Monteverde said the Philippine ICT Community signed in June, this year a joint statement declaring its strong support for the having ICT as part of the cabinet secretaries.