The Board of Investments plans to remove the incentives enjoyed by mass housing projects in Metro Manila from the 2017 Investments Priorities Plan.
A government official said the housing sector strongly opposed the proposal which was the subject of heated discussions in the BoI.
“Several projects are in the pipeline for Metro Manila considering that there is still backlog in low cost, economic and socialized housing and no efficient mass transport system,” the official said.
“We hope to convince BoI to keep it [incentives] in the 2017-2019 IPP and come up with programs that will ensure growth of input sectors like cement, rebars, paint, roofing materials, doors, electrical, among others, to continue to address the new housing needs and backlog,” the official said.
The 2014-2016 IPP did not set geographical restrictions on housing projects but placed a cap of P450,000 to P3 million as selling price per unit for a housing project to get a three-year income tax holiday.
Industry groups such as the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. and the Socialized Housing Development Association will file their position papers to the proposed BoI measure.