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Demand for space still up
Monday, Nov 17, 2008

BPO companies hold on to reserved spaces; developer to push through with expansion.

Amid fears that newly-elected US President Obama will restrict outsourcing to the Philippines, there is continued demand for office spaces at the Asiatown IT Park by business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

However, the Cebu Property Ventures Development Corp. (CPVDC), the information technology (IT) zone developer, is not discounting the possibility that the five-hectare expansion that will transform the Asiatown IT Park into a BPO "enclave" will be delayed.

CPVDC president Francis Monera disclosed that there has been no withdrawal by current tenants. Instead, he said, there has been a stream of inquiries for more spaces at the IT Park.

The Asiatown IT Park, a 24-hectare integrated mixed-used business park accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, houses several BPO buildings with retail spaces, including i1 and i2 of the Primary Properties Corp. and Skyrise IT building 1 of Skyrise Realty and Development Corp.

Monera said there is already a "substantial" amount of commitments to lease the recently finished ebloc Tower, a 12-storey mid-rise office condominium that is designed to provide more space for IT and IT-enabled companies.

Commitments
The building, a project of the Asian i-Office Properties Inc., has a total leasable office space of 21,000 square meters and 1,500 square meters of retail space.

Monera said the companies that promised to lease ebloc have not even withdrawn their commitments, signaling continued demand for more office space despite the present global financial crisis.

He said that BPO industry will continue to grow, in the course of two projected but contrary developments-companies resorting to cost-cutting through outsourcing in the face of the global economic crisis and Obama's earlier emphasis on policy changes to retain more jobs in the United States.

"I don't think we have felt the full impact of the crisis, especially in Cebu. Although we (will be) affected because we don't live in a vacuum but in a globalized world. We are now studying how the market will evolve so that we'll know how to respond to it," Monera told reporters last week.

While doing so, CPVDC will push through with the second phase of the Asiatown IT Park, which will cover five hectares of raw land and development. The project was earlier announced to commence this year.

"If things move toward a favorable development next year, there is a good reason not to delay the plan," said Monera.

With phase 2's detailed plan already in place, he stressed that it is still "premature" at this time when many are closely watching the global financial scenario to announce if the company will decide to put expansion plan on hold until next year.

CPVDC is a subsidiary of Cebu Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Ayala Land Inc.

Source: Sunstar Cebu Business