Aboitiz InfraCapital (AIC), the infrastructure arm of the Aboitiz Group, is looking to expand the size of its 800-hectare (ha) mixed-used property in Batangas by nearly double in ten years, pouring around P30 billion in investments that will see hundreds of billions of pesos in new tax contributions and tens of thousands of new jobs resulting from the move.

AIC first vice president Rafael Fernandez de Mesa said there are already ongoing plans for the expansion of the LIMA Estate, a move that will see all three of the residential, commercial and industrial districts of the estate swell.

"On the industrial site, as we saw today, we have an ongoing 150 hectares expansion. And over the next five to ten years, depending on how much interest there is, we will be able to bring in another 450 [ha] of inventory," De Mesa said during a press conference.

"Other than expanding the boundaries, what we are also doing is adding more complimentary [aspects] to the ecosystem," he said further.

To date, the largest, privately-owned industrial estate is fully occupied, with the ongoing 150-ha expansion only having 4 ha of land left for sale or lease to interested parties.

Sought for comment on what is driving the growth and the entry of foreign companies in the LIMA Estate, AIC vice president for LIMA operations Clifford Academia offered two explanations.

"First and foremost, the reason why these companies are coming into the Philippines is that, number one, there is a competitive incentive package that the government is offering," Academia said during the same press conference.

"We have a very large, young, and talented workers," the company executive added.

Jolan Formalejo, AIC vice president for inventory generation group, says the two-fold expansion will likewise see the number of jobs and government tax revenues—estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of pesos annually—to double, at the very least.

"If we apply the [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] multiplier on jobs generation, that would be more than double, that's four times," Formalejo said on the sidelines of the press conference.

The LIMA Estate, whose name came from being situated in both the city of Lipa and the municipality of Malvar, currently has 140 locator firms which employ around 65,000 ha.

Aside from the LIMA Estate, AIC also has the 540-ha West Cebu Estate in Balamban, Cebu, and the 63-ha Mactan Economic Zone 2 Estate in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. INQ