Thursday, November 20, 2014

MinDA assures monitoring of the P8.6B investment prospects from BIMP-EAGA confab



DAVAO CITY, Nov. 20 (PIA) – An official of the Mindanao Development Authority assured that the agency will continue to monitor and keep track of the developments of the P8.6 billion worth of investment prospects of Mindanao drawn from the 2nd BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT Trade Fair and Business Leaders conference recently held in the city.

“Certainly, we’ll keep track and monitor developments of those projects so we’d be able to see conclusions of those investments discussed in the form of Memorandum of Agreement or Joint Venture Agreement which will signal the start of the investments,” stated MinDA’s investment and promotion director Romeo Montenegro.

Montenegro said exchange visits by companies such as from Thailand and Malaysia will be expected as the generated investment leads of projects will continue to be explored by Mindanao key players and foreign counterparts.

Earlier, MinDA said that the Brunei Darussalam Indonesia Malaysia Philippines–East ASEAN Growth Area and the Indonesia Malaysia Thailand–Growth Triangle (BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT) initiative will serve as Mindanao’s platform for the upcoming Economic Community.

“Mindanao is expected to be ahead in terms of taking advantage of the opportunities in the ASEAN integration,” said Montenegro who recently graced as among the guest speakers during the 12th Mindanao Communicators Network Congress held recently in Zamboanga City.

He said among the big ticket investments that were explored during the BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT business matching included the proposed coffee plantation in Sultan Kudarat and the oil palm plantation in North Cotabato amounting to P1.5 billion each.

Another project prospects were the oil depot in the Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao worth P440 million and a P350 million worth of corn processing facility in South Cotabato.

Discussions have also been going on concerning the possible establishment of connectivity between the Port Labuan in Malaysia and Polloc Port in Parang, Maguindanao.  

Montenegro said the investment prospects are spread across Mindanao including the Bangsamoro areas, adding that “efforts to draw investments towards Bangsamoro areas are equally improving with the anticipated setting up of the Bangsamoro government later on.”

Mindanao export products will also be pushed to be able to top into the larger market of Asean which is assured of 600 million consumer population from the ten ASEAN member countries, he said.

Mindanao will also be able to present itself as investment destination for the production expansion of several multi-national companies in terms of locating their products in Mindanao, Montenegro stated.

The MinDA official believed that Mindanao will have a higher chance of drawing investors, noting its competitiveness advantages such as the cheaper cost of electricity and the presence of more productive labor and agriculture sectors.

MinDA has said that “Mindanao will be positioned as ASEAN’s food basket with the eventual goal of becoming the primary source of industrial crops, producing mass volumes of essential raw materials necessary for processing into more valuable products.” (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)

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