Business hub to rise in Bulacan amid sisterhood pact with China’s Hunan

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado and Hunan province Governor Xu Dazhe of China sign an agreement cementing ties on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City. INQUIRER/ Carmela Reyes-Estrope

CITY OF MALOLOS — A P50-billion industrial and commercial center will be developed in Bulacan after officials of the province and China’s Hunan Province signed a sisterhood pact on Tuesday night.

The proposed hub will rise in Pandi town next year to be financed by Chinese investors, after Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado and Xu Dazhe, Governor of the People’s Government of Hunan Province, signed a “Letter of Intent on the Establishment of the Friendship Relationship between the Province of Hunan, People’s Republic of China and the Province of Bulacan,” said former Pandi town mayor Enrico Roque.

Roque, a businessman, headed a Bulacan economic team that facilitated the new ties with Hunan, which would open up collaborations involving trade, science and technology, culture, sports, health, and education.

Roque said the industrial center will operate like Italy’s Business Stop-Over, which is a concentration of factories, warehouses, and shopping malls where products are produced, stored, and retailed.

The Bulacan version of that facility will be located a few kilometers away from the proposed Pandi Exit along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and would be accessible to the towns of Balagtas, Bocaue, Angat and Bustos. The project can generate 100,000 jobs, according to Roque.

“I am impressed by the history and beautiful sceneries of Bulacan. We are looking forward to more platforms of exchanges in cooperation including economic, culture, transportation to become partner including on equipment and machinery and more cooperation to both benefit our provinces and our countries and to promote better relationship and friendship,” Xu said.

Hunan is located in south central China and a major production center for rice, tea, and oranges.  /kga