DAVAO City has been a candy to the eyes of investors.
It is safe, sustainable and investor friendly. One proof of its competitiveness as a city was it ranked number 5 in the 2016 Most Competitive Highly Urbanized Cities survey of the National Competitiveness Council.
Its development was too evident that it magnets more and more investors, both local and international.
The city has ten priority investment areas. These are agribusiness; tourism; property development; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); public-private partnership (PPP) projects; light manufacturing; health and wellness, educational and sports facilities; transportation and infrastructure; environmental protection and green projects; and generation of new sources of energy.
But what does the city offers for its indicative and would-be investors?
Incentives.
According to the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC), the city offers incentives to new, expanding or diversifying enterprises from single proprietorship, partnerships, corporations or cooperatives can be classified under any of the Preferred Investment Areas (PIA), indicated in the Davao City Investment Incentive Code.
The local fiscal incentives are three years tax exemption for business and two years tax exemption for real property. While the non-fiscal incentives are facilitate processing of local permits and licenses; business information data-banking; referral for manpower and raw material sourcing; and investment counseling and business matching.
These incentives are designed to attract investors and open more opportunities for the continued growth of the city.
To those who want to avail the incentives, the city has set qualifications as guide for investors. The city government requires P3 million-P15 million capitalization for small-scale enterprise; P15 million-P100 million for medium-scale enterprises; and over P100 million for large-scale enterprises. Also, the production should also be within the jurisdiction of the city and the investment project, whether new, expansion, or diversification, is among in the PIA.