TRADE AND INVESTMENT PROFILE

HOUSING

     Housing is relatively  inexpensive in Bacolod City. Prospective house owners, however, have a range of choices from high-end subdivisions and real estate projects to middle class or economical housing units and lots. The province, through the efforts of non-governmental agencies, has developed low-cost earth-based housing materials that reduce home-building expenses by as much as 30 percent.

HEALTH SERVICES

     Five large hospitals and scores of clinics offering general health and specialized services attend to the health needs of the people. These hospitals are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and manned by specialists and other highly-trained health personnel.

HOTELS AND DINING

     Bacolod City and nearby areas have first-class hotels which offer reasonable rates as well as hostels, inns and coastal and upland resorts. Food lovers can go to  upscale restaurants, fast foods or those that serve specialty and native cuisines.

COMMUNICATION

     Bacolod City has among the most dynamic communication services in Southern Philippines. Facilitates include telephone stations and toll services providers, telex, facsimile and reliable messengerial services, including internationally known companies and government postal service.
     Telephone communication services have reached almost all towns and cities in the early years of the new century.  Also available are mass communication facilities like cable TV, radio and television, newspapers and magazines. At least three towns have their own community radio facilities and cable TV, an initiative of a private broadcasting network and cable entertainment facilities.

UTILITIES

     Bacolod sits on an island, which has rich geothermal reserves being explored and tapped for cheap and clean energy. Presently, the entire island sources its power from the Palinpinon Geothermal Plant of the Philippine National Power Corporation. The plant, based in Valencia, Negros Oriental, has a capacity of 112.5 mw. It is also blessed with adequate water supply source from the ground and springs. Water supply systems are in place in the towns and cities. The neighboring Bago City is also home to a bottled mineral water production plant.

HUMAN RESOURCES

    Because of the presence of top schools in Bacolod City and nearby cities, particularly Dumaguete and Iloilo, world class human resources are adequately prepared to meet the demands and challenge of business, trade, agriculture, manufacturing and emerging industries.
     Most local and regional government executives are home-grown, a testimonial to the adequacy of manpower supply for various executive, leadership, technical, manual and other jobs. The growing international community in the city has made the Bacolod workforce proficient not only in Filipino and English. The influence of foreigners has paved the way for language trainings in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, Arabic and others.

EDUCATION

    The city is home to two prestigious universities and a number of colleges that produce topnotchers in engineering, architecture, education, law and health allied fields. Nearby are two other universities specializing in technological development and teacher training. Private and public grade and high schools in the city are also noted for quality performance in academic and curricular activities.

TRANSPORTATION

     With the plan to construct an airport of international standards, Bacolod will play a vital role in the development of central Philippines and in contributing to the socio-economic, industrial and cultural exchange in Southeast Asia. The airport, to be constructed with the assistance of the Japanese government, brings Bacolod City closer to Brunei Darussalam, Northeastern Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian destinations as well as Taiwan, Palau, Micronesia and Tokyo and the northernmost city of Darwin in Australia.
     The city's two sea ports makes it a hub for commerce and trade with regular inter-island trips to and from Manila and the rest to Luzon, other Visayas cities and Mindanao. Inter-island shipping firms have included Bacolod as a major take-off point for passenger and cargo transport.
     The Bacolod's road network is well-linked with that of the province allows comfortable travel all over. National, provincial and farm-to-market roads are well maintained. Barangay roads comprise 60 percent of the total road network. In many areas, private roads are under the care, mostly, of the sugar industry to facilitate better access for milling and trading purposes. The latest addition to the road network is the Northern link from Bacolod City to San Carlos City via the mountain town of Salvador Benedicto, which reduces travel time from four hours. The Kabankalan-Hinobaan highway in Southern Negros has, likewise, increased vehicular and human traffic to Negros Oriental via Basay, the backdoor of the neighboring province.
     Buses and jeepneys ply the route- - 24 hours daily in certain destinations. Taxicabs and car rental services are available anytime of the day or night in Bacolod. The city is also accessible via a combination of land trip and  barge services from various points of Cebu. Trips to Mindanao are available through the Dumaguete Port. Bacolod City also maintains active commerce and trade linkages with Iloilo City as well as the Northern Mindanao gateway - Cagayan de Oro.