TACLOBAN CITY — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is eyeing a PHP1.2-billion foreign investments for Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) this 2018 despite poor performance in attracting big time investors over the past years.
NEDA Regional Director Bonifacio Uy said on Thursday that the region had a share of only 0.2 percent in the nationwide foreign investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) since 2012.
“In 2016, there were PHP800 million investments approved by BOI for Eastern Visayas, constituting merely 0.2 percent of the PHP441.8 billion total nationwide. If we need to sustain our economy, we need more private investments,” Uy told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) through a mobile phone interview.
The NEDA regional office is still waiting for official reports if Eastern Visayas attained the PHP1-billion target foreign investments in 2017.
Two years ago, Region 8 ranked 15th among the 17 regions in terms of attracting foreign investments.
Under the 2017 to 2022 Regional Development Plan (RDP), Eastern Visayas is eyeing a 20-percent increase in BOI-approved investments for the poverty-stricken region.
Foreign investments in the region, measured by the total amount of projects registered in the BOI, reached PHP13.03 billion from 2012 to 2016. The region had 16 projects in agriculture, forestry, fishing, utilities, manufacturing, real estate, and logistics sectors, according to NEDA reports.
More than 88 percent of the said investments were intended to finance projects in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply subsector, which indicates the potential of the region as a source of renewable energy, Uy added.
The NEDA regional chief admitted that investments coming into the region has been limited. This is mainly due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, high cost of support utilities, inadequate skilled human resource base, and weak business environment.
“Efforts in providing a business-friendly climate should be scaled up. There is still weak adoption of government-initiated procedures and processes by the local government units. The infrastructure support in establishing said systems and procedures must be given priority,” Uy said.
The NEDA official urged local government to establish mechanisms needed to attract investments, such as the local investment and incentives code, comprehensive land use plan and the accompanying zoning ordinance.
Based on the national industry roadmap localization of the BOI, priority areas for foreign investment are copper, processed meat, processed marine, processed fruits, natural health products, and agribusiness.
In particular to agriculture-based products, some of these include coco coir, coffee, cacao, banana, abaca, pili nuts, ginger, pineapple, jackfruit, bangus, mussel, seaweeds, and crabs.
On Tuesday, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center launched its knowledge corner in Eastern Visayas in a bid to engage more local officials in PPP ventures.
The information hub, housed at the NEDA regional office here, will answer all PPP-related questions from local government units, state universities and colleges, government-owned and controlled corporations, and private investors.
The knowledge center initiative is a partnership between the NEDA and PPP Center as part of the government’s strategy to engage more local implementing agencies to rollout more bankable and viable PPP projects in the countryside. (PNA)
