ARMM stability brings P600-M more investments in the 4th quarter

COTABATO CITY -A total project investment value of about Php 600 million was recently approved by the Regional Board of Investments (RBOI) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). These newly registered RBOI firms, the Maguindanao Energy Farms Incorporated (MEFI) based in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation (MICC) operating in Matling, Malabang, Lanao del Sur shall be eligible for fiscal and non-fiscal incentives being provided by the government. The Maguindanao Enegry Farms Inc. invested Php400 million for a 474 hectare-napier grass plantation. The napier plantation with production capacity of 256,133 metric tons per annum will be used to supply the fuel need of Lamsan Power Plant also located in Simuay Sultan Kudarat. Napier is highly valued industrial crop, a good source of biomass energy which will naturally regenerate or renew itself after a reasonable length of time. The project will create 60 jobs. Lawyer, Ishak V. Mastura, Chairman of RBOI said that the addition of the said project to the list of existing renewable energy projects registered with RBOI signifies a growing number of investors investing in alternative sources of energy such as biomass. Such projects are included in the 2014-2016 ARMM Investments Priorities Plan to promote and support economic activities that will bring about sustainable and clean sources of energy and to secure power supply for the future. About 23% of total investments from 2012 to present in ARMM are into renewable energy”, Mastura added. Likewise, Matling Industrial and Commercial Corporation (MICC) invested a Php194 million expansion and modernization project by setting up a new cassava starch milling plant. The new plant is expected to yield approximately 13,216 metric tons or 260,000 bags annually. MICC, one of the pioneering and most enduring cassava starch companies in the country was established in September 1928, and up until now is still operating. According to MICC, around 70% of the present cassava starch supply in the domestic market is imported due to increasing demand while decreasing in local supply which can be attributed to the closure and non-operations of local mill plants. Hence, the company has to fill in the supply and demand gap of the industry through expansion and modernization. The said expansion project is expected to directly employ 176 workers. ARMM Regional Governor, Mujiv Hataman said that from January to October 2015, about Php6 billion total worth of projects are invested in the region, the biggest in the history of ARMM. Investments will continue to come in the region as long as there is sustained peace and stability,” Hataman added.