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Thursday, March 16, 2006
Investors’ interest in CV up, indicates bullish ’06
By Aurelia l. Castro
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The Board of Investments (BOI) foresees this year to be “bullish,” saying the level of interest in investment in Central Visayas is high even this early.
“We already have 22 investment leads gathered from January to early this month. They have inquired and are now in the process of applying for incentives,” BOI Cebu extension office chief Ernesto Pintac told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Hotel
Three of the 22 investment leads he mentioned are resort and hotel investment projects in Cebu that would have an estimate project cost of P1.5 billion to P2 billion.
“There were also eight investment leads for resorts and pension houses in Bohol,” he said.
The biggest prospect is from a British investor, which plans to put in some P250 million to P300 million in a resort project in Bohol, he added.
He said other prospects include an expansion project in the furniture industry worth P150 million to P200 million and a shipbuilding investment of about P150 million to P200 million.
The BOI gives incentives like income tax holidays, tax and customs duty exemptions on capital equipment and spare parts and net operating loss carryover to qualified firms.
Attractive
Pintac, however, stressed that BOI incentives only serve as “bonus” for the investors.
“Cebu, with or without BOI incentives, is an attractive place to invest in. The huge demand for services and products in Cebu is one reason investors come,” he said.
The boost in the region’s tourism is one reason there are a good number of investors that will invest in resorts and hotels in Cebu, he said.
Back in business
In a forum yesterday organized by the Philippine Information Agency at Bigfoot Building, Pintac reported a total of P17.7 billion worth of investment projects in Central Visayas last year, 90 percent to 95 percent of which were poured in Cebu.
“We are happy to announce we’re back in business,” he said.
In 2004, BOI registered only P2.9 billion in investment projects.
The P17.7 billion in 2005 is the highest record of investment in six years since the Asian crisis, Pintac said.
John Joseph Mercado, chief executive officer of Bigfoot Global Solutions Inc., said Cebu’s human resource, telecommunications infrastructure and accessibility made the company choose Cebu as investment location in the country.
Bigfoot group of companies, one of the firms that registered for BOI incentives, had invested around $25 million to $30 million in five years since its operation in Cebu, he said.
The firm hired about 600 Cebuanos since 2001 and now has a monthly payroll of P10 million to P15 million, he added.
“We constantly have plans for expansion,” he said.
Bigfoot is in “serious” negotiation with the Cebu City Government for a possible expansion at the South Reclamation Project, he added.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 16, 2006 issue)
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