Investments pledges registered with the Board of Investments doubled in the first six months of 2016 to P186.5 billion from P92.02 billion posted year-on-year, official data show Tuesday.
“Sustained impressive investment performance validates the announced economic policy direction of the new administration. The challenge is ensuring that these investments benefit the poorest of the poor,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
The administration plans to embark on measures to make investments more inclusive through linkages of micro, small and medium enterprises to the agricultural sector and the marginalized geographic regions.
Transportation and infrastructure activities topped the 162 projects that are expected to create some 30,207 jobs when fully operational.
Some 34 power generating plants and renewable energy projects accounted for 51 percent of the approved investments in the first semester.
Investment commitments in the sector surged 402 percent to P95.95 billion from just P19.1 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The power projects are expected to generate as much as 1,034.12 megawatts of power in most parts of Luzon, especially in Region IV-A where majority of the industries are located.
These projects include Limay Premier Power Corp.’s P23.3 billion, 300-megawatt fluidized bed coal fired power plant in Bataan, and two renewable energy projects—the Bayog Wind Power Corp.’s P14.73-billion power plant with a generating capacity of 150 megawatts, and Cordillera Hydro Electric Power Corp.’s P12.18-billion power plant with a generating capacity of 60 megawatts.
The transportation infrastructure sector placed second with P31.9 billion in investment commitments or 17 percent. Investments were higher by 282 percent from P8.36 billion approved during the same period in 2015.
The transport projects include GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp.’s P16.75-billion Cebu International Airport Project, a public-private partnership project involving the operation and maintenance of Cebu Airport Terminal 2; and Light Rail Manila Corp.’s P15.15-billion Manila Light Rail Transit 1 Integrated Railway System Project, which will cover the operation, maintenance, and modernization of the existing light rail system.
The development of low-cost and economic mass housing projects kept its position at third among the top contributors in the period, gaining 20 percent of the total investment commitments worth P24.39 billion.
The manufacturing sector, whose growth drove the economy in the first quarter, was at fourth with P18.61 billion, up 9 percent from last year’s record of P17.14 billion.
The processed food products projects were the highest in the manufacturing sector with investments worth P8.14 billion.