DAVAO CITY — The city government will embark on a trade mission to four cities in Japan in October to attract tourists and line up potential investors in four priority industries, a top official said.
“We will be bringing agriculture, tourism, real property and manufacturing as the investment areas that we will promote in Japan,” said Lemuel G. Ortonio, acting head of the Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC).
Mr. Ortonio told the media last week that these sectors were put in the priority list following discussions between city officials and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII).
The 15-member trade mission, which will include city officials and business sector representatives, will go to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama and Tokyo on October 16-20.
Mr. Ortonio said some Japanese companies and officials from these four cities have previously visited Davao and “signified interest to help invite more companies.”
Arturo M. Milan, DCCCII trustee and organizing committee chair of this year’s Davao Investment Conference held last July, said the business sector is going the extra mile in helping promote the city to foreign investors.
“We need to provide efforts in inviting more business representatives of other countries to explore the potentials of the city, especially that President (Rodrigo R.) Duterte comes from the city,” said Mr. Milan.
City Tourism Operations Officer Regina Rosa B. Tecson, who will be part of the trade mission, said her agency aims to further strengthen the link between Davao and Japan.
“We are boosting our efforts to attract more Japanese tourists,” said Ms. Tecson.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ortonio said the DCIPC is currently reviewing four “big-ticket” projects: a hospital expansion, a boutique hotel, a fish feed mill plant, and low-cost housing in the first district.
The combined capital for the four projects is about P400 million, he said, but declined to give further details as the proponents have yet to submit the requirements listed by the DCIPC.
Several unsolicited public-private partnership (PPP) proposals, mostly involving solid waste management and street lighting, have also recently been submitted, he said.
Another PPP proposal, Mr. Ortonio said, is from a Japanese firm for a carpark facility.
There is a pending resolution before the city council to give parking facility investors a longer tax break period — six years for both business and real property taxes — under the incentives program as the return on investment for such projects are slower.
“We already discussed about this with the City Engineers Office, City Treasurers Office and DCIPC,” Mr. Ortonio said.
Investment in carparks is being encouraged as the city government aims to fully implement a “no street parking” policy.
“We cannot implement a no street parking policy if there is no alternative parking facility. What we are pushing now is incentives to attract investors,” he said
DCIPC records show investments in the city from in the eight months to August have hit P247 billion, about P17 billion more than the total for 2016. — Carmelito Q. Francisco and Maya M. Padillo
