Cebu foreign investors buck runway project

Some 150 foreign companies at the Mactan Economic Zone 1 (Mez1) may be forced to pack up and transfer their manufacturing operations to other countries due to a proposed runway project.

The Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) wants to put up a parallel runway in anticipation of increased traffic.

But as it stands, completing the project will mean either relocating the foreign-run facilities in an economic zone north of the airport with a combined workforce of 57,000 direct workers or relocate thousands of households south of it.

Not wanting to be the collateral damage, two business groups wrote to the MCIAA back in December, reminding the state-owned company that their foreign investors were promised stability when they first located in the economic zone.

“In fact, an atmosphere of apprehension and disquiet has now prevailed among all the foreign investors at Mez1,” said the Japanese business chamber in Cebu and the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers in a letter to MCIAA CEO Steve Dicdican. “New investments for expansion of present capacities are put on hold, and plans to relocate to other countries in Asia are already on the table,” the letter read. INQ