BOI-listed investments hit P150.2B in 11 mos

Investments approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) hit P150.229 billion in the first 11 months of the year.

The BOI said there were 186 projects approved during the 11-month period which are expected to create employment for 40,325 workers.

Of the amount, P36.588 billion has been approved under the simplified registration procedure.

Thus, under the simplified registration process, 40 projects have been approved which are expected to generate employment for 400 workers.

For the week of Nov. 21 to 24, a total of P2.742 billion alone was approved under the simplified registration process.

Of the six projects approved for the week Nov. 21 to 25, the bulk of the approval is for the two agribusiness projects of the Gokongwei-owned Southern Negros Development Corp. amounting to P2.542 billion.

One project amounting to P1.322 billion is merely an expansion, while the other project amounting to P1.220 billion is a new venture.

Also approved was the P123.778 million tourism project of Playa Asya Resort, Inc. in Boracay.

Another project approved under the simplified registration procedure is the energy project of Mt. Holly Coco Industrial Co. Ltd. amounting to P62.389 million and the P10.453 million information and communications technology (ICT) project of MedScript Corp.

The sixth project approved was that of Clickstream Marketing, Inc., also an IT export service firm that will locate in Cebu City with a project cost of P2.278 million.

With the increase in investment applications resulting from the implementation of the simplified registration process, also know as the one-day approval scheme, the BOI is on track to match or perhaps even exceed its 2004 approvals which amounted to almost 165 billion.

Earlier, BOI managing head Elmer C. Hernandez was pleasantly surprised by the positive response to the one-day approval process which Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila, who is also the concurrent BOI chairman, had ordered to be implemented following clamor from foreign investors for faster investment approvals.

The simplified registration procedure still takes anywhere from three to 10 days.

However, Secretary Favila is urging the BOI to improve its processing even more and live up to the one-day approval process for all applications provided that all the necessary documents are submitted.