Central Visayas gets P15.1B in investments

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2015/07/27/central-visayas-gets-p151b-investments-421320
• Monday, July 27, 2015

By Jeandie O. Galolo (With a report from PNA)

INVESTMENT pledges in Central Visayas reached P15.1 billion for the first half of 2015, data from the Board of Investments (BOI) Cebu showed.

The figure represents a 250 percent increase from last year’s records during the same period, which stood at P6.1 billion.

Official data from BOI Cebu extension office Investment Specialist Philip T. Torres obtained yesterday showed that the amount corresponds to 12 projects in the region.

These were invested in manufacturing (P519.1 million), tourism (P900 million), mass housing (P957 million), water transport infrastructure (P375 million), power (P65 million) and public private partnership project, the Mactan Cebu International Airport of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. at P6.3 billion.

These projects are scattered in Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City, Toledo City, Liloan, Carmen, Badian, Panglao in Bohol, and Sta. Catalina in Negros Oriental. When these projects become fully operational, these will generate 2,166 jobs in the region.

BOI, an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, grants incentives to BOI-registered businesses.

It offers companies fiscal incentives which include, among others, income tax holidays, reduction of the rates of duty on capital equipment, tax credits, and non-fiscal incentives like employment of foreign nationals, as well as simplification of customs procedures.

From 2014 to 2016, Torres said priority sectors of BOI, as identified by various government agencies, include manufacturing, agribusiness, fishery, services, economic and low-cost housing, hospitals, energy, public infrastructure and logistics and PPP projects.

In the whole year of 2014, BOI registered P9.3 billion worth of investments in Central Visayas, translating to 1,415 jobs.

For the rest of 2015, Torres said his office has received numerous applications from different companies, primarily in housing projects. This month, BOI Cebu approved two projects worth P177.6 million for mass housing. To date, four projects are under evaluation worth P3.4 billion.

Nationwide, investment approvals of the BOI in January to May 2015 has also increased.

Investment pledges for the period jumped by 20.2 percent to P78.68 billion from P65.46 billion the same period in 2014.

BOI’s investment approvals shared 56.3 percent to the total investment pledges under the two investment promotion agencies (IPAs) under DTI.

The other IPA, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), had approved investments worth P61.08 billion at the end of May.

Investment pledges in Peza decreased by 39.8 percent from last year’s same period amounting to P101.48 billion.

The slump in Peza-approved investments pulled DTI’s IPAs performance in January to May this year.

Combined investment approvals of BOI and Peza at the end of May fell by 16.3 percent to P139.76 billion, from P166.94 billion in the same period in 2014.