First Philippine HoldingsFirst Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPH) is looking to raise the bar for economic zones in the country with plans of expanding its industrial estate footprint to a level seen at par with other Asian countries.

In an interview on the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, FPH president and chief operating officer Elpidio L. Ibañez said the company is targeting to expand its industrial park in Batangas to 2,000 hectares from its present size of 450 hectares.

FPH currently operates an industrial park in Sto. Tomas, Batangas through First Philippine Industrial Park Inc. (FPIP), a joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan.

Ibañez said FPH is earmarking P1.4 billion this year alone for land banking for the group’s industrial park.

FPH in January this year had already acquired through an auction a 46-hectare property located at the Philtown Industrial Park in Tanauan, Batangas.

“FPIP did well in 2014 raising its net income by 14% year-on-year while continuing to land bank at around 50 hectares annually. FPIP presently has 450 hectares of saleable land and is the largest contiguous industrial park in the Philippines today,” FPH chief finance officer Francis Giles Puno said.

“I can see FPIP building up alternative revenue bases as it tests new ground with more ready-built factories, land leases, on-site strip malls, BPO companies, warehouses, water utilities and even alternative industrial sites catering to other industrial market segments,” said FPH chairman and chief executive officer Federico R. Lopez.

The company said its planned initial expansion within the next four years would provide an additional 20,000 jobs to the 40,000 already generated by the ecozone. (Excerpted from www. abs-cbnnews.com)