ARMM sees more investments coming in 2016

• Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=843973
• Wednesday, January 6, 2016

(PNA), LGI/NYP/EOF

COTABATO CITY, Jan. 6 (PNA) -- With a whooping PhP6.5 billion investment in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2015 as barometer, the ARMM's Regional Board of Investments (RBOI-ARMM) is expecting to draw more investments this year.

The agency is targeting to generate at least PhP900 million worth of investments and 900 new jobs in 2016, conservative figures considering what the regional government has achieved last year," according to Atty. Ishak Mastura, RBOI-ARMM chairperson

In 2015, RBOI-ARMM posted PhP6.5 billion worth of new projects, way over its original investments target of only PhP700 million.

Mastura said within January, RBOI is expecting to approve a PhP1.3 billion oil palm plantation in Maguindanao. If plans pushes, it could erase its target during the first quarter of 2016.

Mastura also announced new ventures in the region that included the PhP45 million industrial waste treatment facility in Polloc, Maguindanao and an PhP80 million water facility.

He said the region’s economic potentials -- rich in raw materials and an emerging market for goods and services -- have been generally overlooked by the business sector in previous decades but this has changed significantly in recent years.

Mastura said investors continue to put money in the region because of their trust in the good governance initiatives of the present ARMM administration.

He attributed the investors' confidence to the Mindanao peace process. Notably, he said, investments started coming in after the signing of the GPH and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace agreement in 2014.

“2015 was the best year so far because the region has posted the highest value of investments in the 26-year history of ARMM,” Mastura said.

In 2015, RBOI recorded an increase of 70 percent in the total value of investments registered compared with Php3.867 billion in 2014. Likewise, 4,894 jobs were created, 43 percent higher compared with 3,433 new jobs registered in 2014.

In a statement, RBOI-ARMM said it approved eight major investment projects in 2015 led by Al-Sahar Agri Ventures Inc., a Cavendish banana plantation in Maguindanao with a PhP3.7 billion project. It was the largest single investment in the history of the ARMM.

Chan C. Mining Inc. also invested PhP742 million for a nickel ore project in Tawi-Tawi. Lamsan Power Corp., meanwhile, had a 5.5-megawatt power plant expansion project worth PhP687 million in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.

Other investors in the region are:

Tawi-Tawian Petroleum Trading Corp. in Panglima Sugala. Tawi-Tawi;

DS3 Fuel Tanking and Services Inc., a petroleum project operating at Polloc Free Port, Parang, Maguindanao;

Maguindanao Enegry Farms Inc. based in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao for a 474 hectare-napier grass plantation;

Matling Industrial and Commercial Corp., a cassava starch milling plant in Malabang, Lanao del Sur; and

Southsea Industrial Energy Corp, an oil refinery project in Simunul, Tawi-Tawi.

Sixty-five percent, or PhP4.3 billion, of the combined value of the new projects approved by RBOI-ARMM in 2015 were agri-based while 24 percent, or PhP1.5 billion, were energy related. The rest, or PhP742 million, were on mining and quarrying.