Filinvest Land Inc. is seen to have leased half of its ready-built factories at the New Clark City in Tarlac within the year, with the last five units taken by next year to complete the development of the first phase of the project.
Francis Ceballos, FLI senior vice president and industrial business unit head, said the company is already building three more factories it plans turning over to locators early next year.
He said locators in the past would rather locate in the southern part of Metro Manila like Cavite, Laguna, Batangas.
“The big players are all there. (But) the north is now beginning to come out on its own and already beginning to reach critical mass,” Ceballos told reporters at the sidelines of a forum hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines.
According to him, FLI is building 10 ready-built factories costing P60 million to P70 million to build.
The first two units have already been leased by StB GIGA, the newly established Philippine entity of StBattalion Pte. Ltd., for its lithium iron phosphate battery manufacturing plant at the Filinvest Innovation Park.
Ceballos said FLI is hopeful there will be more locators at the park, and its factories as the base.
“It’s something that the country needs. It’s been long overdue. We were left behind in many respects by Vietnam and Thailand,” he said.
The Filinvest New Clark City sits on a 288-hectare leased property of which 120 hectares have thus far been developed.
The property is only 30 minutes away from Clark International Airport and 45 minutes from the Subic Bay International Seaport, making it a catalyst for progress north of Metro Manila only 90 minutes away.
FLI’s ready-built factory compound will feature 10 units built on a 40,000-square meter lot. Each of the 2,500-square-meter units is designed for logistics, e-commerce, and light manufacturing locators.
Each unit is equipped with a two-bay loading dock with levelers, roll-up doors, an eight-meter ceiling clearance, a floor load capacity of three tons per square meter, and a fire suppression system.
