P4.1-B new investments availing of tax incentives

The Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (DCIPC) reported that new investments in Davao City as of the first week of September 2009 totaled to P4.1 billion and were covered by tax incentives.
DCIP head Roberto Teo said this is the highest during the term of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and is confident it will still get higher towards the end of 2009.
“By then we would be able to surpass the 1997 figure of P4.414 billion which till now remains the highest record so far,” he said.
There are already projects in the pipeline and proponents are currently complying with some minor requirements.
Included in the P4.1 new investments he said are four property development projects, namely Chula Vista Residences with a capitalization of P661.8 million, Abreeza-P2.48 billion, Santiago Villas, P253.6 million, Deca Homes Resort Residences, P586.8 million. The other investments are My Hotel (P60 million) and Coffee-Herbal Processing Plant (P105 million).
Teo said that more real property projects are opening in the city because of the increasing demand from buyers, plus the fact that Davao City, being the most livable city in the country today, attracts both homebuyers and homebuilders.
He said more housing projects also are needed because of the increasing population and financial institutions like Pag-IBIG Fund have lowered their interest rates and the Fund could also finance developers of low-cost housing projects. Two of the real property projects — the Santiago Villas and Deca Homes — are low-cost housing, he said.
“The stable peace and order condition of Davao City is what people consider in locating here both for business and for residential purposes,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said new investments here could be more than P4.1 billion because these companies did not apply for incentives.
“But we are still happy without them availing of tax incentives because that will be an added income for the city,” he said.
These investors decided to come because they saw the progress of Davao City and other factors are the good practices and the cost of doing business which is highly competitive, he said.
He said total registered capitalization for new businesses as per record of the Business Bureau for 2009 accounted for P175 billion compared to 2002’s only P78 billion.
He said that in the span of seven years it increased by P100 billion despite the global financial crisis.
Teo said they offer tax incentives to investors to assist them in their business operations for the first two years even as he said that they make sure that they offer a business friendly environment to those who want to operate businesses in the city.