BOI, JICA to identify industries

The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is conducting a study on the potential industries and further economic development for Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions.

The study, which commenced August, 2016 and will run up to March, 2017, aims to identify the potential industries in the said regions that can play central roles in the development of such areas by analyzing the identified industries’ global value chain structure.

The study also aims to identify the institutional and infrastructure bottlenecks that hamper the development of such industries and design concept plans to address and promote its development and growth.

“The study is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s 10-point economic agenda particularly in increasing the competitiveness of industries and easing the cost of doing business to further attract foreign direct investments and businesses in the regions, provinces, and local cities,” said Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo. Central Luzon and Calabarzon were chosen as the covered areas of the study as these regions have the most concentrations of economic and business activities such as the presence of many industrial zones and several logistics and infrastructure development projects.

“While business activities and existence of infrastructure projects abound in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, there is a need for more comprehensive industrial policies and strategic infrastructural plans to maximize the potentials for growth and development in these regions,” he said.

JICA Senior Representative Tetsuya Yamada, meanwhile, said that the study will complement the Transport Infrastructure Roadmap Study for Mega Manila which emphasized the need to establish better North-South connectivity and appropriate hierarchy of different transportation modes such as roads, railways, and other mass transits to have globally competitive and environmentally-sustainable cities.

The study is expected to produce a report which will contain relevant information on the said regions’ existing studies and policies on industrial development such as incentives, system and regulations on land use and development of industrial zones, overall tax system related to special economic zones, and local government units (LGUs) incentives for investor, potential industries, and the distribution of population and the employment situation including labor concerns, foreign direct investments (FDIs), education system and human resource development (HRD), and current condition of existing infrastructure such as transport, power, telecoms, logistics, water & sanitation, and waste management.

To provide overall guidance on the study and feedback on the relevant reports, a Steering Committee was formed and conducted its first meeting at the BOI recently (August 12, 2016). The committee is composed of senior officials of various government agencies including the BOI, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its regional offices in Central Luzon and Calabarzon, the Department Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and its regional offices in Central Luzon and Calabarzon. In the meeting, the Departments of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Education (DepEd) were also recommended to be members of the Committee.