Independent power producer Kaltimex Rural Energy Corporation (KALTIMEX) which invested P831 million for an 8-MW diesel power plant in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi worth P831 million in 2016, lauded the regional Bangsamoro Board of Investments or RBOI-BARMM for the efficient and professional aftercare services.
KALTIMEX in a letter dated May 26, 2021 cited RBOI-BARMM for their efficient service. “We are also pleased to report of the consistent dependability of the power plant for 24/7 support for public health and community resiliency in a pandemic environment causing disruptions in supply chain mitigated with commendable sense of service by our plant personnel. The Land Bank Annual Report for CY 2019 recognized the significant positive impact of the pioneer power plant for countryside development which we are sharing with the RBOI-BARMM for its continuing policy support.”
According to RBOI-BARMM, power investments in off-grid areas similar to the island provinces and municipalities in BARMM, such as Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, which is part of the Sulu archipelago, are crucial to their economic development as studies have consistently shown that there is a direct relationship between power consumption and energy use with economic growth.
More than ever power investments are needed because the Covid-19 pandemic induced the move to cyberspace or the internet in terms of service delivery and internet services requires stable power supply as a prerequisite.
RBOI-BARMM Chairman Ishak Mastura said that energy investments like those in power generation continue to be included in the BARMM Investment Priorities Plan that lists the industries that are entitled to fiscal incentives from their agency.
“With the newly-enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE law, we now have better fiscal incentives for investors than before, and in particular being in a post-conflict area, under the said law there is a longer time period of availment of fiscal incentives, such as Income Tax Holidays, for investors in the BARMM,” Mastura added.
Despite the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, private sector investments have continued to pour in the BARMM albeit at a reduced figure than in previous years. Last April 2021, RBOI-BARMM registered its first investment for the year, which is the P950 million investment of Al Muzafar Agriventures, Inc. in a 1,000 hectare Cavendish banana plantation in Maguindanao.
The May 8, 2021 incursion of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao highlighted the need to support private sector investments in the BARMM.
In the case of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, the 1,500 hectare Cavendish banana plantation in the area that used to employ more or less 2,000 former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front closed down in 2019, and community leaders are afraid that jobless young people will be enticed to join the BIFF.