The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) will soon require all ecozone developments to be self-sustaining following the eco- industrial park model of the International Finance Corp. (IFC) on circular economy, sustainable development goals and energy efficiency.
Tereso Panga, PEZA director-general there are 10 ecozones which have adopted this model on a voluntary basis including those developed by Lima Land, Laguna Techno Park, First Philippine Industrial Park and Light Industry & Science Park Group.
He said PEZA will roll out the official guidelines within the year on water and energy for ecozones with the assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, World Bank and IFC.
“More ecozones are subscribing to the eco- industrial park IFC model because locator- companies are now demanding to see all these elements in an ecozone like embedded power, access to green and clean production, renewable energy. Without these facilities inside ecozones, they cannot be competitive because they are up against ecozones in Asean aided by different donors. It is now a must,“ Panga said.
Panga said the guidelines will not just make ecozones compliant with environmental standards but will make them competitive.
The guidelines will apply to prospective ecozones and existing ones will be given time to retrofit their facilities.
“We are catching up in new ecozone development such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam which are being financed by Singapore, South Korea and China and all are following new ecozone development models of being resilient, inclusive and sustainable,” Panga said.
