The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) recently bagged two major awards in the recently concluded survey of Global Free Zones of the Year 2015 awards.
SBMA emerged as the overall winner in Asia and overall winner in the sub-region of South and Southeast Asia. It also received commendations in the form of bespoke awards for infrastructure developments and reinvestment, announced SBMA chairman and administrator Roberto Garcia.
The survey was conducted by fDi Magazine, a bi-monthly publication of The Financial Times, Ltd. of London, to acknowledge the most promising free zones across the world. Invited to join were free zones, government entities, and investment promotion bodies, which were asked to complete a short survey, detailing their zone’s attractiveness, facilities, and incentives offered to investors.
The publication received a total of 76 entries from all over the world, which were individually studied by a panel of judges who then nominated their winning and runner-up locations in each region.
“Emerging as overall winner in Asia, as well as in South and Southeast Asia, is a significant indicator of Subic Freeport’s level of competitiveness among other zones in the region,” Garcia said.
He added the awards underscore the Freeport’s attractiveness and potential as an investment site and validates strategies undertaken by the Subic agency to spur the zone toward further growth.
Survey questions included growth performance measures for 2013 and 2014; what multinational companies have chosen to locate in the zone and why; which tenants have chosen to undertake recent expansion of their presence in the zone; and what initiatives have been implemented in the last 12 months to increase tenant numbers, including any special incentives, programs or facilities catering to small medium enterprises or start-ups.
Also asked were infrastructure developments or facilities upgrades in the last 12 months, as well as major development plans to facilitate future expansion.
