BOI approves 13 projects worth P1.58B in Region 10

Ten small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Region 10 availed of the one-day project registration held by the Board of Investments (BOI) during the roadshow conducted on May 25-26 in Cagayan de Oro City.

During the roadshow, the BOI approved 13 projects with a combined worth of P1.58 billion.

Bulk of the companies that came to the event were small firms.

Among the companies that sought registration were Sun Q Technical Trading Company’s P3-million export project of dried mango and other fruits; Mackdel Trading’s P1.5-million manufacture of processed fish, and the P15-million call center project by Arriba Telecontact, Inc.

Projects that were given BOI-approvals were in the agri-based products and services, tourism, publishing and printing, ICT, and mass housing projects.

Using the one-day approval system, the BOI was able to lure in projects like the P545-million new feed mill plant of San Miguel Corp.-Food Division; the P500-million steel billet and steel bars project of Elegant Chemical Corp., and the P240-million mass housing project of Liberty Land Corp.

The roadshow is intended to stimulate business activity in the country by encouraging formation of SMEs in the regions.

It also intends to spur economic growth by giving necessary incentives to companies who are eligible under the Investment Priorities Plan of the BOI.

The outreach program has shown that a lot of businesses are being generated in the regions.

Thus, there is a need to make government services more accessible to the people and in this case making doing business in the country much easier by going to where businesses are.

The 13 approved projects are expected to generate 1,044 jobs once all the projects go on-stream.

BOI Director Dennis Miralles reported that aside from the 13 projects, another three investment leads with a combined project cost of P30.8 million in the tourist accommodation and services sector were generated by the event.

This would mean an additional P30.8 million if the projects are eventually registered with BOI.

One day project approvals were made possible provided there are no policy issues on the type of project registration that the firms are undertaking, Miralles said.

Last year, Region 10 generated P1.77 billion in investments or 1.08 percent of the total P163.88-billion BOI approvals.

Sectors that invested in the Region 10 last year include agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and food.

These include big ticket projects such as the P643-million agricultural and animal husbandry project of Southern Fresh Products Inc.; the P520-million project of Philippine Sinter Corp., the P339.58-million metallic ore mining project of Mindanao Silicon Metal Corp.; and the P134.53-million industrial service facility of UKC Builder’s Inc.