SIX foreign investors have expressed interest in investing in Davao City particularly in the tourism, infrastructure, healthcare, and agribusiness sectors, through various meetings with the Davao City Investment and Promotions Center (DCIPC).
During the weekly forum at Habi at Kape, Abreeza Ayala Malls Wednesday, April 5, DCIPC Officer-in-charge Lemuel Ortonio said for the past weeks they have been getting inquiries from different foreign investors regarding the investment opportunities in the city.
Ortonio said two Chinese investors had expressed interest to put up shop in Davao City. One of them is interested in partnering with a local company in putting up a socialized housing project. The other Chinese investor is into tourism facility investment, particularly a hotel and convention center in one compound.
Two Japanese are also eyeing in investing in the city. The first Japanese investor was a healthcare and consulting firm which is interested to partner with the Davao City Government or private institutions to develop an integrated system in healthcare organization while the other one plans to partner with DCIPC in organizing business missions to Japan which, Ortonio said, might be conducted by the second or third quarter of the year.
Korean investors have also talked with DCIPC regarding their interest of establishing a ship building facility and a renewable energy power plant in the city. A Malaysian investor wants to partner with local investors to work and develop the agribusiness sector in the city.
“All of these happened in a span of two weeks so everything is just inquiries for now. There are no final details yet. What we do, we are providing them with the investment information that they need,” Ortonio said.
He added that Davao City is currently in need of tourism-related facilities such as hotel accommodations since with the influx of tourists and business meetings in the city, hotels are almost always fully booked.
Ortonio also said DCIPC is looking into agribusiness investment ventures especially on cacao.
A city government-owned 4.5-hectare land, located at Malagos District, is being planned by the city to develop into an organic farm, which will eventually be opened to agribusiness investors.