Korean firm to invest P1 billion on RP's largest golf course

By Ehda M. Dagooc Updated February 06, 2009 12:00 AM

Despite the volatile economic condition, the Korean-led firm Philippine BXT Corporation is poised to start off its P1 billion investment project in Cordova, to build the largest Golf Academy, RhiLanguage and Retirement Village facility in the Philippines.

In an interview with BXT vice president Bruce Chiongbian, he said that the company will start the horizontal works of the 36-hectare golf course and retirement facility in the first quarter next year.

At present, the company is still working on the documentations for the huge investment, while Chiongbian said the municipality of Cordova, has also invited the company to extend its project towards the reclamation area.

Once completed, BXT's 18-hole Golf Academy will be the first championship and world-class golf course in the Cebu that will also pull up Cebu's attractiveness for sports tourism enthusiasts around the world, especially the Japanese, and also Koreans.

The Phase 1 of the project, which will start in the first quarter of 2010 will build the first Golf Academy in Cebu, the second phase will work on the 18-hole golf facility, and the third phase will establish the pockets of retirement village facilities within the sprawling 36-hectare property, Chiongbian said.

The company, whose local counterpart firm called Joil UBF Corporation, is planning to develop a total of 100-hectares in Cordova for its long term plan.

Aside from the Golf Academy, the company will also include a language school within the facility that will attract mostly Korean nationals whose top interest right now is to learn English outside of their country.

In a separate interview with the company's chairman Yong Jun Park, he said that there is a huge market in Korea whose interest is to study Golf and Language in tropical countries like the Philippines.

Approximately, there are about 7,000 to 8,000 Koreans that are studying language (English) in Cebu, significant part of these students are also interested to study Golf, he said.

The integrated leisure, educational, and retirement village facility development in Cordova will be the second project of the company, after the P4.5 billion Imperial Palace WaterPark Resort and Spa on Mactan Island, of BXT Busan Express Terminal Corporation, the Korean-based counterpart of the Philippine BXT Corporation.

According to Park, the initial development, which is the Academy, is expected to draw more Koreans to come to Cebu. The Golf and Language Academy on the other hand will not only accept Korean students, but also Filipinos, and other nationalities.

Korean trainors for Golf Academy will be brought in to Cebu, as soon as the school starts, while the Language school facility will give opportunity for Cebuanos to get employment in teaching English language to Koreans.

The Cordova project of BXT will automatically avail of the government incentives following the proclamation of the Imperial Palace and WaterPark Resort and Spa, as the first tourism economic zone (TEZ) in the Visayas.