MANILA, Philippines - Taiwan’s Xianglu Group is lining up big projects in the Philippines, including the development of the largest economic zone and the tallest building in the country, a top investment promotion official said.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) director general Charito Plaza recently met with Xianglu Dragon chief executive Y.H. Chen, wherein the latter expressed interest to register its upcoming projects with the agency.

The projects include an 85-story IT building along Roxas Blvd. in Manila and a 3,000-hectare mixed-use special ecozone in Pangasinan.

Plaza said Xianglu plans to invest P12 billion for the construction of what would be the tallest building in the country.

She said the group has already finalized acquisition of the project site beside Diamond Hotel along Roxas Blvd.

The project is expected to start construction this year and will be completed within three years.

Plaza said Xianglu Group is the developer of the second tallest building in Taiwan.

Aside from the building, Plaza said the group also intends to develop what could be the largest economic zone in the country.

The economic zone, which would encompass across 10 municipalities in the western part of Pangasinan, is expected to generate $360 billion worth of investments from potential locators and Xianglu Group itself, Plaza said.

“I had a dialogue already with the mayors of Pangasinan and they welcome this big investment,” she said.

Plaza said Xianglu owns the largest economic zone in Xiamen City, Fujian province in China.

“So now the company wants to invest here in the Philippines. The timetable for their economic zone development is three to four years. They will also build all necessary facilities for the economic zone like ports. Initially, they will construct a petrochemical facility,” she said.

Plaza said former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. played an important role in enticing the Taiwanese firm to locate in the Philippines.

“The company was introduced by former Speaker De Venecia. Other countries are wooing this firm and he was able to convince them to invest here instead,” Plaza said.