ZAMBOANGA CITY – The local government of President Manuel A. Roxas in Zamboanga del Norte is planning to convert the entire town into a Mega-Agro Industrial Park using a 13-billion-euro fund to make the municipality economically stable, Mayor Carlito A. Feras said Friday.

“Converting my whole town into a Mega-Agro Industrial Park is indeed a very ambitious project. But I am certain that like the concept of Ayala Commercial Center and Ortigas Center, among others, I know with God’s help, we will succeed in the town’s business endeavor,” Feras said.

The mayor explained that local government units (LGUs), mostly small ones, are really financially drained as salary for workers take the bulk of the budget, forcing the town to look for other means of generating revenues like engaging in businesses such as the proposed Mega-Agro Industrial Park.

The project, Feras said, is to develop the entire town as haven for investments by building road networks, commercial buildings, a shopping mall, hotels and restaurants, develop tourism sites, industrial and business processing outsourcing areas to attract local and foreign investors and tourists.

The park includes livelihood programs to enhance agriculture production in support to the local industries and trade and commerce but with an assurance that it is an environmentally harmonious agro-industrial mega development in this part of the region, he said.

“Local and foreign tourists are also expected to flock to the town to patronize new hotels and restaurants, golf course and a retiree’s village, plus world-class facilities and utilities such as strategic roads, drainage system, sewer network, modern educational and medical facilities, modernized power and water supply and distribution systems,” Feras said.

He revealed that the 13-billion Euro project would be a loan from various offshore and local banks led by ABN AMRO and supported by HSBC, Citibank, ING Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, University Savings Bank, Banco Filipino and Maybank.

He said that construction of the mega-project will take about five years under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme as mandated by Republic Act 7718, otherwise known as the Local Autonomy of the local government unit and the Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) law.

The BOT scheme law allows foreign banks to operate the Mega-Agro Industrial Park for 20 years under the Philippine special economic zone statute to ensure the return of investment of the investors, after which, the project will be turned over to the municipal government of President Manuel A. Roxas after the specific period of operation.