The Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC) is offering longer fiscal incentives for investments placed outside the city’s Central Business District (CBD).
DCIPC chief Lemuel Ortonio made this offer during the just-concluded 5th Davao Investment Conference (ICON) at SMX Convention Center to encourage businessmen to consider locating in other city’s growth areas.
“In supporting the city’s thrust to spread development outside the Central Business District, the city also offers longer fiscal incentives if the investments are located in our preferred district areas,” Ortonio said.
The five areas identified by DCIPC as other alternative investment destinations are Baguio, Calinan, Marilog and Paquibato districts.
“We are offering longer incentives outside the city because we want to spread economic development beyond our CBD,” he said.
Ortonio said that for the past years, the Davao City Investment Incentives Board has offered business tax exemptions for three years business and real estate tax exemption for two years.
The tax holidays are for new, expansion and diversification projects as long as it falls within the 10 preferred investment areas.
The preferred investment areas are agri-business, tourism, and recreational facilities, light manufacturing and assembly, property development, health and wellness including educational and sports facilities, environmental protection or green projects, information and communications technology, generation of new sources of energy, transportation and infrastructure, and public-private partnership projects.
He said the city has ensured that it continues to promote a business-friendly environment for both domestic and foreign businesses. The strength of the city as a business destination is a result of the strong partnership between the city government and the private sector, he added.
“We are proud of the strong collaboration between the local government and the private sector which is evident with the conduct of the Davao ICON in the past five years,” he said.
Ortonio urged the representatives of the various local and foreign chambers including the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Mindanao, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, to consider these areas for their future investments even as he assured them of the safety and security in the city.
He acknowledged that peace and security are essential to ensure economic and social growth as well as business continuity and longevity in the city.
“Davao city has been consistently recognized as one of the safest cities in the world and we are very proud of that,” he said.
Ortonio said the monthly crime rate in the city has drastically reduced to 2.5 per 100,000 population, “which is considerably low for a highly urbanized city like Davao City.”
He said, “safety is important not only to our residents but also to our visitors.”
Ortonio attributed the city’s peace and order situation to the Safety and Security Response Cluster composed of the Central 911, Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC), Task Force Davao (TFD) and the Davao City Police Office (DCPO). CIO
