A consortium led by Commerce Ltd. of Slovakia has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cagayan Special Economic Zone (CEZA) to invest in a 100-bed “first-class” hospital estimated to cost some P1 billion.

The hospital will be built in several phases, with the first phase of 10 to 30 beds targeted to be operational in six to 12 months.

“The development of this hospital will be of great benefit to the local community, the locators in Ceza, the tourists in the region and those in need of medical services in times of national emergencies,” Commerce said in a statement.

Commerce is backed by some local partners, which have yet to be identified.

The new hospital is envisioned to be far different from traditional healthcare facilities. Using modular construction technology, the plan is to im- mediately set up a facility with a few beds and surgical room.

Following the signing of the MOU, the foreign firm said project development had started.

“This includes an analysis of the hospital activities, necessary capacities, variety of processes and many more steps which have to be undertaken and will be done in record time as opposed to the average of five to 10 years necessary to set up and build a traditional first-class hospital,” the company said.

According to its website, Commerce is engaged in the business of running field hospitals, including mobile hospitals, mobile technology solutions, construction support system, IT outsourcing and systems solutions.

After an extended campaign last year to eradicate illegal offshore gaming operators and revoking the licenses of 164 companies, Ceza is positioning Cagayan Valley to become a “FinTech City” or the “Silicon Valley” of Asia.