BoI registers P20.5B worth of Central Visayas projects

CEBU, Philippines - Projects in Central Visayas registered by the Board of Investments (BoI) totaled P20.5 billion in the first nine months of 2015, official data showed.

These generated a total of 2,531 jobs.

The data obtained by The FREEMAN also indicated that projects registered in the third quarter of the year amounted to P5.3 billion, comprising mostly of mass housing developments.

A total of seven projects were registered during the quarter: four mass housing (all located in Cebu); solar power project in Toledo City, Cebu; tourism accommodation development in Tagbilaran City, Bohol; and a Cebu-Bohol route shipping project.

BoI-Cebu Head Philip Torres said in an interview that the solar project of Sunasia Energy Inc. is considered the big-ticket investment, costing P3.95 billion, among the seven.

The projects registered in the Q3 were expected to generate a total of 365 jobs.

Torres said he still expects some housing projects to be registered in the fourth quarter this year.

Torres said the continued entry of housing investments still signals the robust demand in the housing market. "There is still a big market for housing," he said.

Department of Trade and Industry-Cebu Director Nelia Navarro had said that housing projects continued to lead in availing the incentives of the BoI since 2012.

Navarro had said that from 2012 up to the first half of 2015, a total of 28 mass housing projects were registered by BoI.

But while the housing sector is growing, Torres said the agency noted a dismal growth in agriculture-related projects this year.

BoI data showed that only one agriculture-related project in Region 7 was registered by BoI this year, which is a manufacturing facility for raw sugar in Negros Oriental.

Earlier, Marina Hermoso, regional technical director at the Department of Agriculture in Region 7, had urged local businessmen to explore investment opportunities in the agriculture industry.

Hermoso had said the industry has so much potential in terms of investment opportunities. (FREEMAN)