Saturday, August 09, 2008 Cebu’s future still ‘strong’
ECONOMIC difficulties experienced in the country at present are just “bumps on the road” as Cebu remains to have a “very, very strong future,” an official of the Aboitiz group’s property development arm said yesterday.
AboitizLand Inc. president Andoni Aboitiz said the construction of iMEZ, a five-story building that will provide a total of 4,500 square meters of leasable space for business process outsourcing (BPO) offices, is an indication of the company’s optimism about Cebu.
“We are very bullish about prospects in Cebu. We prefer not to get into the thinking that the economy is bad. There are so many opportunities in Cebu and the country, in general,” he said. “We’re looking at the long-term. We believe in the long-term potential of the country.”
Aboitiz led the groundbreaking of the iMEZ site at the Mactan Economic Zone 2 in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday.
The building is the first venture of AboitizLand Inc. into BPO office leasing and the first of its kind to be built in Lapu-Lapu
City.
Aboitiz said that while there are many areas being developed to provide office space for BPO companies, AboitizLand expects iMEZ to be fully occupied when it becomes operational.
“There’s always competition, but there is (growing) demand,” he said in an interview.
Labor supply
He added that while BPO buildings are being constructed, they need not compete against each other.
Aboitiz also dismissed fears of some sectors that the BPO industry will eventually fizzle out.
“The problem is not demand, but whether Cebu can supply the skills (needed by the industry),” he said.
He described the present scenario in relation to labor supply for the BPO industry as “challenging.”
“But I believe we will be able to catch up with many (academic) institutions offering courses (patterned after the industry’s needs),” he said.
Aboitiz admitted that AboitizLand is also affected by rising prices, but since iMEZ was planned some time ago, the company was able to purchase the needed construction materials when these were less expensive.
He stressed that the company believes that the country will be able to hurdle past the present economic difficulties.
“If we choose to see a crisis, we see a crisis. If we choose to see opportunities, we see opportunities,” he said. (LAP)
