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A Century's Worth Park will host IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO),
multinational corporations such as Hong Kong Shanghai Banking
Corporation (HSBC), International Business Machines (IBM) and
Convergys. 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. Quezon City 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. |
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact me at katherinemae.lopez@gmail.com