Pilar Mayor Carlos Pizarro Jr. Photo by Ernie Esconde
PILAR, Bataan — The construction of a road network is about to begin with equipment ready on–site to connect the town proper to four seaside villages here where a P6-billion economic zone will rise, Mayor Carlos Pizarro Jr. announced Wednesday.
Pizarro said the construction of the road will be in full swing after it was approved by the sangguniang bayan.
The project tentatively named Bataan New Container Port City will rise in more than 500 hectares of land adjacent to the Manila Bay.
“Malaking bagay ang container port na itatayo dahil maraming negosyong papasok at maraming taong magkakaroon ng trabaho,” Pizarro said, adding that many locators have already signified their intention to do business in the area.
The mayor said that the project is under the expansion program of the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) located in Mariveles town.
President Duterte signed into law last August 30, 2019 a bill principally authored by 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III expanding the Bataan freeport territory from Mariveles to all the other 10 towns and one city in the province.
FAB in Mariveles has more than 45,000 workers in 141 multinational firms as of Dec. 31, 2019.
“The project will create thousands of jobs for Pilar and greatly increase our revenues,” the mayor said, thanking the private investor for the choice of Pilar.
He said members of the sangguniang bayan and the whole municipal government, as well as Gov. Albert Garcia and Congressman Garcia, were all “ecstatic” over the project.
Pizarro said the governor has a plan to construct a modern public market along the road to the ecozone in the middle of the four villages.
Pilar is the site of the Dambana ng Kagitingan or Shrine of Valor atop Mt. Samat where heavy fighting between Filipino–American and Japanese forces took place before Bataan fell on April 9, 1942.
It is the town next to Balanga City and about 40 kilometers from Mariveles.
