Agri, tourism, public works top proposed 2012 IPP

MANILA, Philippines - A wide range of agribusiness projects, tourism facilities and services and infrastructure topped the list of proposed priority investment projects recently released by the Board of Investments.

The infrastructure projects include those to be built under the Public-Private Partnership program (PPP) of the government.

The accent on agribusiness, tourism and infrastructure reflect the main economic thrusts of the Aquino administration to create millions of jobs quickly, BOI officials explained during a recent public hearing.

Specific investments in those areas, after getting registered with the BOI this year, will enjoy up to six years of income tax holidays.

Special stress on investments in agriculture arose from the fact that despite its limitless potential, the farm and fishery sector experienced very little new investments in previous years.

It was pointed out in last year’s Philippine Business Conference that total investments in agribusiness has remained less than five percent of total yearly investments in the country.

This has resulted in the sector’s stagnation for decades.

Nationwide, qualified projects will include commercial production and processing of agricultural and fishery products including by-products and wastes, irrigation, post harvest, cold storage, blast freezing and the production of fertilizer.

Agribusiness was also given special attention in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao where a wider range of specific projects have been detailed by the BOI for tax perks. New areas included the production of “halal” meat and foods, plantations and processing of industrial crops that include abaca, rubber, biofuel like jathropa and the establishment of state-of-the-art propagation technology like tissue culture.

Similarly, the development of tourism facilities included a wide range of investment areas under three categories. The first category is in support of transportation facilities that include airports, seaports and cable car projects.

The second category included establishment and operations of all categories of hotels, theme parks, amusement parks, convention centers, health and wellness facilities, agri-tourism farms and facilities and adventure parks.

It also included retirement villages.

Infrastructure projects deemed top priority for private investments by the National Government have been included among those that will enjoy tax holidays. Included are PPP projects which were not limited to those already identified by the NEDA but will include new lists that the administration will add.