Implications cont'd

On Decemeber 2006, former BOR and Commission on Higher Education head Carlito S. Puno inked the deal with ALI representative Jaime Ayala at the UP Executive House in Quezon City. The agreement authorized the country's real estate developer to construct facilities on the NSTP and the 65-hectare South Science and Technology Park along Katipunan Ave.

QC Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., according to a Jan. 2007 UP Newsletter report, issued an ordinance which classified the NSTP as an area that will help the city become the country's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) capital. He added: "The North Science and Technology Park promises to be a magnet for fast evolving high-technology companies that would prove essential for the creation of a strong business and employment center in Quezon City."

ALI announced that it will invest P6-billion to develop the Park into a fully integrated IT and IT-enabled services community. The country's largest property developer also noted that the NSTP will be an "academe-based catalyst for technological innovation along the lines of the Stanford University-based Silicon Valley Corridor in the USA."

University officials also emphasized that the park will generate employment for UP students. ALI representative Maria Carmela Ignacio in an interview with the Inquirer, mentioned that the NSTP "will serve as a learning library for the academe." She added, "Students, through internship, will become exposed to the industry and the faculty through consultancy."

Accoring to ALI's development plan, the ten low-rise office buildings will be leased to corporate tenants which include telecommunications, telematics, information technology , biotechnology and high-value BPO companies. A village type retail strip, accommodating restaurants, bookstores, coffee shops, service establishments and public facilities will also be constructed in the park. Hotel and residential facilities, which are part of the NSTP's second phase, will also be integrated to the Park, ALI's statement read. UP President Emerlinda Roman, during the Park's groundbreaking ceremony, said that the research prospects and jobs generated by the NSTP will help stem the "brain drain" and give UP graduates a reason to stay in the country.

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