MANILA: ECONOMY – ‘Investments approved by BOI up 538% in Jan’ | Tuesday, February 06, 2018

INVESTMENT projects approved by the Board of Investments (BOI) in January increased 538 percent to P51.3 billion from P8 billion a year earlier.

In a statement on Monday, BOI said renewable energy (RE) projects made up the bulk of these investments, at P27.43 billion, followed by water-supply and distribution facilities at P13.87 billion.

Manufacturing investments worth P37.29 million were posted for the month.

The biggest approved project was the P13.3-billion bulk water supply of APO Agua Infrastructura Inc. in Davao City.

Also notable were the three planned facilities of Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc.—two in Cavite province and one in Nueva Ecija—with a combined cost of P25.9 billion. They are expected to have a total power capacity of 587 megawatts (MW).

Cleangreen Energy Corp. is constructing a 12MW biomass energy plant worth P1.5 billion in Bulacan province, the BoI said.

Low-cost housing developer 8990 Housing Development Corp. is building a housing project worth P2.2 billion, also in Bulacan, while Eisberg Cold Logistics is setting up a P1.4-billion integrated cold chain facility in Caloocan City.

“This reflects the strong confidence in the Duterte administration and all the positive reforms and programs being undertaken that created a sustainable growth momentum moving forward,” Trade Secretary and BOI Chairman Ramon Lopez said.

The regional dispersal of investments in 2017 continued in January, BOI noted, as most of the approved projects are in the provinces.

Cavite has six of these worth P17.9 billion, while Davao City has two with P13.6 million and Nueva Ejica has the P8.6-billion Solar Philippines project. They collectively account for 78 percent of last month’s approved projects.

For his part, Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo expressed confidence that the agency can achieve its year-end target of P680 billion, a 10-percent increase from the P617 billion in investment proposals posted last year.