INVESTMENT LEADS of at least P100 million is targeted during the Compostela Valley (ComVal) Business and Investment Conference 2018 (Biz-ICON 2018) on March 5, where the focus industries would be aquaculture, banana, cacao, coffee, tourism, and green mining. Rochelle A. Otoc, trade and industry development specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry-ComVal, said they are also aiming to generate about P50 million in booked and actual domestic sales during the event to be held at the Capitol Building in Nabunturan. “We will be having market-matching simultaneously done with plenary session. We will be having a business matching area outside the plenary hall where we prearranged suppliers and buyers to meet,” Ms. Otoc said in an interview with the media last Monday. Ms. Otoc said among the main investment areas that will be promoted are mariculture park and fish cages. For green mining, the technology developed by the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) will be pushed to small-scale miners for a more environment-friendly process of extracting gold and copper, which does not use toxic chemicals like mercury and cyanide. “For this year we featured again aquaculture, banana, coffee and cacao and added this time green mining and tourism… these are the strong industries in Compostela Valley and we want to sustain the economic gains of these sectors,” said Lucky Siegfred M. Balleque, DTI-ComVal provincial director. The Biz-ICON 2018 is part of Compostela Valley’s annual Bulawan Festival, set on March 4-8 and celebrated alongside the province’s founding anniversary.

GOLD MUSEUM
Meanwhile, the Provincial Tourism Office is preparing to build a gold museum within the vicinity of the provincial capitol. Provincial Tourism Officer Christine T. Dompor said they are now working with the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) for the project that will be positioned as one of the landmarks in Davao Region. “The museum will have interactive features, (like) how is it to be in a mining tunnel, then you get out and you will see the finished products made by the artisans, and it is going to showcase also the green mining practices, which is being championed now by the DoST,” Ms. Dompor said. — Maya M. Padillo

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