Baguio identifies 12 priority investment areas
The city identified some twelve priority investment areas that are expected to contribute in efforts to entice investors to establish their businesses not only in the city but also in the neighboring communities of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan Tuba and Tublay in Benguet.
The city’s priority investment areas include green manufacturing and exporting, creative industries, tourism-oriented businesses and establishments, pioneering and strategic projects, mass housing, more energy resource development, research and development, ecologically sound liquid waste management enterprise, mas transportation and facilitation, sports facilities development, preservation and development of historical sites and public private partnership.
With the aforesaid priority investment areas, the city intends to bolster a sustainable local economic development by engaging a multi-stakeholder and participatory process and that various services and incentives are offered to create better conditions for investments leading to economic growth and development.
One-stop shop services, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Negosyo Center among others, are offered for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for the ease of doing business in the city.
Further, application of permits are made easier through the availability of the downloadable application forms, increased service efficiency and shortened processing period.
Insensitive under the Local Incentives and Investment Code are also provided in the form of exemptions from mayor’s permit fees, building permit fees, business sales taxes, real property tax due to the city and other fees and charges imposed under existing city ordinances on a graduated basis.
At present, Baguio City is one of the prime tourist destinations north of the National Capital Region (NCR), home of excellent human resources and established business support infrastructure, the first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative City for Crafts and Folk Arts in the country and the gateway to the Cordillera.
The city is offering for prospective investors the $60 million upgrading of the city’s sewage treatment plant, the $10 million upgrading and rehabilitation of the city-owned Asin mini hydro power plants, the Burnham Park development, the put up of a multi-million modern abattoir, the establishment of the Luna Terraces as a permaculture community, the improvement of the Baguio Convention and Cultural Center, the upgrading of the Maharlika Livelihood Complex into a permanent creative center, the Wright Park Development, the improvement of the Irisan Eco Park and the development of city-owned lands within the central business district area as well as the put up of the integrated terminal for north-bound and south-bound buses.
City Budget officer Leticia Clemente asserted that the local government remains steadfast in dealing with the companies that are interested to establish their respective businesses in the city to help in reviving the local economy that was heavily impacted on the ongoing Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic. – Dexter A. See
