Palace identifies priority industries for investment

President Benigno Aquino III has approved this year’s Investment Priorities Plan listing the industries to be given incentives and added six to it.

The six new priorities are the following:

• the administration’s Private-Public Partnership or PPP projects

• tourism projects outside the designated tourism enterprise zones

• the development of low-cost mass housing

• the exploration, development and use of indigenous energy sources and environment-friendly technologies

• shipbuilding

• the manufacture of electric vehicles and vehicles using alternative fuels.

The tourism-related projects to be given incentives include transport services for tourists, retirement villages, hotels, resorts, apartment hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast facilities, convention and exhibition facilities, amusement parks, adventure and eco-tourism facilities, sports facilities and recreational centers, theme parks, health and wellness facilities, tourism farms, and tourism training centers and institutes.

Some 10 PPP projects will be up for bidding this year, including the contracts to operate Metro Rail Transit 3 and Light Rail Transit 1, the south extension to LRT-1, the east extension to LRT-2, and the second stage of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway.

This year’s investment priorities include seven preferred activities that were also in last year’s list: the so-called green projects or activities leading to the more efficient use of energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases, the development of flood control systems and dikes, the installation of early-warning systems for typhoons and earthquakes, and the development of business process outsourcing and creative industries

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has a separate list of investment priorities, which include the production of products according to Islamic law. Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today