MANDAUE City may be the sixth smallest city in the country, but local stakeholders believe it has room to accommodate future investors amid an already bustling trade and industy.
Pitching to the delegates of the Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines (ANZCHAM) last week for the first Mandaue Investment Forum, the City’s chief executive secretary, lawyer Elaine Bathan, said Mandaue wants to attract investors involved manufacturing of modular housing components, creative industries, knowledge-based services, passenger or intermode terminals, disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as clean water and renewable energy projects.
“The City’s new investment code (2015) clearly outlines its vision in terms of preferred investment areas. While we have studied national databases to identify a list of investment opportunities based on national growth, our eyes are set on the future and the transformation of the business environment to a highly innovative one,” the City Government said in a briefing.
Tax breaks
To encourage investors, Bathan said the City’s local investments code provides incentives to these economic activities, such as one-year tax holidays for investments of at least P3 million, excluding land; expense incentives to manufacturing companies installing quality management systems like ISO Certification and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP); and green building incentive of five to 25 percent discount on the real property tax on buildings that are BERDE-certified.
While there are some measures implemented to entice investors in Mandaue, the business sector’s pressing concern is the scarcity of land to do business or expand in the city.
Mandaue City has a land area of 30.64 square kilometers.
Concerns were raised that industrial businesses have expanded in other parts of Cebu instead of settling in Mandaue, despite the attractive incentives that the City has to offer.
“While we admit that size may limit us, there are works for additional reclamation projects. The moment we are able to push through and expand reclamation projects, we could create economic processing zones,” Bathan said.
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Source: Sunstar Cebu
