Two foreign locators are lining up P15-million worth of investments at the Aurora Pacific Special Economic Zone in fish processing, papaya plantation, bluefin tuna and in the production of eel, the first large-scale commercial culture of its kind in the country.
Malcolm Sarmiento, Apeco president and chief executive, said Nantsan of Taiwan and Pro Feeds Inc. of Norway have filed applications to do business at the 1,000-hectare zone in Casiguran with its own pier and airport to support agro-industries, mariculture and eco-tourism.
Sarmiento said Nantsan wanted to put up sea cages for raising grouper species, plant papaya at a 10-hectare site and produce and process eel, a freshwater variety.
He said Pro feeds planned to culture bluefin tuna inside Casiguran Sound which had the viable 26 degrees Centigrade for raising the fish.
Bluefin is a premium variety, Santiago said, noting that recently a 200-kilo bluefin fetched $1.7 million (roughly P85 million) at the Chukiji fishport in Tokyo during an auction.
The Philippines is seventh among the world’s top tuna producers with exports of frozen and canned tuna reaching $284.254 million in 2011, according to the Board of Investments.
Sarmiento said the investors favored Aurora because it was “among the few provinces in the country that is still rich in natural resources.”
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who authored the law that created Apeco said the ecozone is the country’s premier gateway to the Pacific.
“Its accessibility to Manila and to other logistic and investment hubs in Luzon via land and air makes it an ideal starting point for the inflow of commerce,” he said.
