COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro Board of Investments of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BBOI-BARMM) on Friday welcomed the approval of investments of two companies with a total worth of more than P200 million to operate in this city.
In a statement, lawyer Ishak Mastura, BBOI chairman, cited the approval of the “opening salvo” of investments for the region from the Hanabana Construction and Equipment Corp. and the Pagana Kutawato Corp.
The Cagayan de Oro City-based Hanabana firm will put up an independent bulk water supply facility here, while Pagana Kutawato will set up a container van type of hotel and restaurant expansions at a huge area in this city.
Engineer Samim Yusoph, the BARMM coordinator for Hanabana, said in a separate statement that the firm would establish a viable source of potable water within the city to augment the daily water needs of its residents.
"Our company was contracted with the Metro Cotabato Water District (MCWD) for the project to build a bulk source of a potable water system in the city using our modified water equipment or technology amounting to more than P100 million,” Yusoph said.
"As agreed in the contract, the MCWD will not pay any single centavo for the use of our water technology or equipment but the volume of water to be pumped out going to the residences in Cotabato City of around 7,000 cubic meters daily will be payable by them monthly once it becomes operational."
Primary beneficiaries of the pilot water project are residents of Barangay Rosary Heights 5; Barangay Poblacion 8 and 9; and some areas of Barangay Rosary Heights 3 with a plan to expand to all Barangays 1 to 5 of Tamontaka.
The Pagana Kutawato firm, on the other hand, will establish a tourism type of hotel and restaurants using the container van to attract more tourists or visitors to the city.
"Our purpose of expanding our hotels and restaurants in a new innovative design is to cope with the increasing demand of our visitors on accommodations and food that Muslims commonly like to eat in a restaurant," said lawyer Anwar Malang, the company owner.
Malang said Pagana is also aiming to promote their “halal” (permitted) native food and delicacies in the city to boost the tourism-related industry.
Mastura welcomed the new investors, describing it as a good sign for the region for more possible investments to come in this year.
"We are eyeing for an increase in investments in the BARMM like what happened last year, in which we generated investments more than our target," he said.
Despite the pandemic, the BARMM generated a total investment of P2.8 billion in 2021, surpassing by P300 million its target of P2.5 billion worth of business ventures for the period.