Isabela bares priority investment areas for new locators

A month before its expanded Bambanti Festival — an event that is expected to promote tourism, attract investments and generate jobs in the province — the provincial government of Isabela has named its list of priority investment areas for prospective locators. Isabela is predominantly agricultural and is the country’s top producer of corn, mongo and hybrid rice. Many of its residents also engage in livestock raising, meat and dairy processing, timber production, woodcraft and furniture making, and hospitality services. The priority investment areas are grouped under six categories: infrastructure; agri/aqua industries; forest industries; tourism; gifts, toys and houseware; and support and knowledge-based industries. Under the infrastructure category, Isabela has prioritized the development of the Cauayan Agro-Industrial Center and Special Economic Zone as well as airport improvement. It has also called for investments in the Ilaguen Hydropower Plant and in mini-hydro power generation. Isabela Governor Faustino Dy III said to run these power plants, the province will step up its biodiesel, ethanol and biomass output through sugarcane and sweet sorghum plantations and bio-ethanol plants. He also said the provincial council is particularly pushing for the construction of roads to link coastal towns to the mainland and rehabilitation of the Ilagan-Divilacan Road. There is also a need to build the Pasa Small River Impounding Project. The province's favored agri-aqua investment areas are post-harvest facilities for hybrid rice and hybrid corn, fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry, dairy and sugarcane, and seaweed, tilapia and prawn, Dy said. Corn oil and feeds production are also attractive investment destinations. The province's eco-tourism attractions include cave exploration, trekking and beach-combing on its 113-kilometer white sand coastline. Thus the provincial board is calling for capital infusion in eco-cultural and historical tourism (Palanan played a large part in the life of the first Philippine president, Emilio Aguinaldo); tourism accommodation and facilities; tour operators and travel agencies; health and wellness tourism; religious and “experiential” tourism. Dy said these would need support and knowledge-based businesses such as information and communications technology; business process outsourcing; medical and crisis-intervention; and educational institutions. Among the souvenir items manufactured by the province are basketry, pottery, ceramics, novelty items and holiday décor—this is another industry that welcomes new entrants. And in the forestry sector, investors can develop the bamboo and rattan industries or try woodworking or furniture making. The three biggest investors in the province are the SN/Aboitiz Power group with its 360-megawatt Magat hydroelectric power plant; the Green Future Innovations Inc. with its 54-million-liter ethanol plant (a joint venture between Japanese, Taiwanese and Filipino firms); and the Mindanao Grains processing Co. with its P500-million Reina Mercedes Corn Processing Center, inaugurated by President Aquino in 2010. Other locators in the province are oil firms Chevron, Petron and Shell, with the new players following suit; telecommunications giants Smart and Globe; soft-drink makers Coca-Cola and Pepsi; SM and Robinsons supermarkets; and fast-food chains McDonalds, Jollibee, Chowking, Mang Inasal and Goldilocks. Dy said they will use their share of the excise tax to retrain and transition tobacco farmers in the cultivation of other high-value crops. Now the second top producer of rice, Isabela aims to become the largest when two new dams in Ilagan and San Mariano as well as other irrigation systems promised by President Aquino are built. At present, Isabela is home to the Magat Dam, the biggest in the country. — KBK, GMA News