THE Davao City Investment and Promotions Center (DCIPC) noted a 118 percent increase in the number of renewed and newly-registered businesses to 4,610 during the second quarter of 2017 from 2,110 in the same period last year.
According to DCIPC head Lemuel Ortonio, the City Business Bureau noted a daily average of 60 business applications received during the second quarter of the year.
Out of the 4,610 businesses, 1,857 of these were newly registered are into retail and services.
“They have seen the ease of doing business here in the city. It is also partly because of the confidence they have because of the peace and order situation here despite the declaration of martial law. So if we total the existing business in the city including those recorded during the first quarter of the year, it’s a little over 41,000,” said Ortonio.
He also said the City Business Bureau, instead of the 72 hours time allowance given to permit approvals, is targeting 48 hours of approval and feedback upon submission in order to facilitate and entertain more businesses.
He added despite the declaration of martial law, the number of investment inquiries made in their office for the previous quarter was not affected.
On average, they were receiving around three to five investment inquiries weekly.
From April to June, Ortonio said inquiries were mostly on solid waste management facility investments, waste-to-energy facilities, and ship building.
Around four to five Chinese and Korean investors were making inquiries about the ship building specifically for the location and the needed materials for the said investments.
Ortonio said this is a new thing since usually inquiries on ship building are only one per quarter. He said they had recommended sea sides of the second district particularly in the Bunawan and Lasang areas.