| Abstract | The recent establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area has brought a new opportunity
to realize the long-standing proposal of Zamboanga Economic and Free Trade Zone (ZEFTZ).
The strategic location of Zamboanga City in the ASEAN region and its basic Free Port
characteristics make it particularly attractive as a Free Trade Zone in not only Region IX,
Philippines, but for the whole ASEAN region. A rapid assessment of the comparative advantages
by the National Economic and Development Authority Region IX Office, however, revealed that
the city is seriously deprived of the required infrastructure, to assume such an international
status. This study while assessing the viability of the ZEFTZ with the existing infrastructure,
attempts to draft an Infrastructure Plan aimed towards making the city 'attractive' to the ZEFTZ
users.
To determine the pressing issues and problems, and potentials of the existing
infrastructure system, an assessment was made on its current physical and administrative
conditions, and its policy and planning framework. The data were collected through Delphi and
Rapid Appraisal Techniques. The long vision of converting this historic port city into a Free Port
is daunted by the insufficient support facilities and utilities, like water, power, waste disposal,
communications, and the airport. Poor management, leadership, and technical skills and lack of
coordination among implementing agencies, have made them incompetent in advancing projects
and seeking external funding. The advocacy of the Agro-industrial and the Corridor Cum
Satellite development strategies, the devolution of national functions as per the Local Government
Code, and the introduction of the Build-Operate-Transfer and related schemes, have however
provided rooms for improvement and heightened private sector participation.
Consequently, to determine the infrastructure requirements appropriate for the ZEFTZ,
the strategic planning techniques were employed. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats were deduced from results of the environmental scanning. These were further reduced
to key planning issues by means of a Cross-Impact Analysis, and were utilized to build scenarios
depicting the probable futures of the infrastructure. Hence, three long-range alternative strategies
for development were recommended. From the result of the Goals-Achievement Matrix Analysis,
the Singapore experience inspired, a city-independent FTZ infrastructure development in linear-and-ring conceptual patterns, was found appropriate for ZEFTZ in view of the realities in
Zamboanga City. The formulated Infrastructure Plan is proposed to be carried out by the ZEFTZ
Authority (ZEFTZA). The infrastructure will be owned, constructed, and/or operated by the city
government, private sector or the ZEFTZA on a joint venture program. Financing schemes
ranging from external funding to benefit and cost-recovery schemes are also promoted.
To make this study more substantial, it is imperative to conduct further in-depth cross-sectoral
spatial planning while incorporating socioeconomic aspects. This study should be a
meaningful guidepost for the formulation of an indicative Master Plan for the proposed ZEFTZ. |