MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Jan. 7 (PIA) --- The
Regional Board of Investments in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
(RBOI-ARMM) is expecting to draw more investments this year.
Atty.
Ishak Mastura, RBOI-ARMM chairperson, said the agency is targeting to generate
at least P900 million worth of investments and 900 new jobs in 2016,
conservative figures considering what the regional government has achieved last
year.
RBOI-ARMM
posted P6.5 billion worth of new projects in 2015, way over its original
investments target of only P700 million announced early last year.
Within this month, RBOI is expecting to approve a P1.3
billion oil palm plantation in Maguindanao, thus the year’s targets could be
topped within the first quarter.
There
are also new ventures in the pipeline including a P45 million industrial waste
treatment facility in Polloc, Maguindanao and an P80 million water facility.
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.
Atty.
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 said the ongoing peace process
also augments investors’ confidence in the region.
According
to him, 2015 was the best year so far because the region has posted the highest
value of investments in the 26-year history of ARMM.”
Last year, RBOI recorded an increase of 70 percent in the
total value of investments registered compared with P3.867 billion in
2014. Likewise, 4,894 jobs were created, 43 percent higher compared with
3,433 new jobs registered in 2014.
RBOI-ARMM
approved eight major investment projects in 2015 led by Al-Sahar Agri Ventures
Inc., a Cavendish banana plantation in Maguindanao with a P3.7 billion project.
It was the largest single investment in the history of the ARMM.
Chan
C. Mining Inc. also invested P742 million for a nickel ore
project in Tawi-Tawi, Lamsan Power Corp., meanwhile, had a
5.5-megawatt power plant expansion project worth P687 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 P4.3 billion of the combined value of the new projects approved
by RBOI-ARMM in 2015 is agri-based while 24 percent or P1.5 billion, are energy
related. The rest or P742 million is on mining and quarrying.(BPI/APB/PIA-10)
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