Eastwood City Cyberpark

completed

Established in late 1999, Eastwood is an urban economic zone for information technology (IT)-driven companies and represents the Philippines'' first initiative to create a special economic zone for export-oriented IT companies, along lines similar to the software technology parks in India. The project is envisaged to be a mixed use facility incorporating office and commercial developments and an IT school building. It aims to provide an environment in which the technology infrastructure is state-of-the-art and companies have the facilities to conduct business efficiently. The funds will be used to finance the construction of the IT school, the IT infrastructure and 3 IT buildings.IFC Role:Improving Governance. It is likely that IFC’s support for this project will result in an improvement in the sponsor’s corporate governance practices through covenants in the IFC loan.Providing long-term financing. Under the present circumstances, Philippine corporations find it extremely difficult to secure long-term financing, as local banks are unable and foreign banks are reluctant to provide it. Though Megaworld would probably be able to proceed with the project in the absence of IFC financing, it would have to do so by obtaining much shorter term financing locally. Critical mass. The rationale for supporting a second technology park in the country lies in the competitive advantage of the Philippines in the IT services area. Building up a critical mass is crucial for the realization of this potential.Development Impact:Export Potential. The project is likely to play an important role in strengthening the Philippines’ capacity to export IT-enabled services thus diversifying the country’s export base. Over-dependence on assembly type electronics exports has resulted in high macroeconomic vulnerability to shocks in external demand. Gender Equality: Many of the project’s tenants would be IT enabled services such as call centers which employ primarily women, thus contributing to greater gender equality.