THE 2013 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP)
has finally been submitted to Malacañang, a Cabinet official yesterday
said, with the government also looking to fast-track the issuance of the
2014 blueprint to make up for the delays that marked this year.
“We already submitted the [2013] IPP,”
Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said at the sidelines of a FUJIFILM
Corp. plant launch.
“There are minor changes there compared to last year. The major changes
may be for 2014 ... [the IPP for] which we will try to issue by
December,” he added.
The IPP -- which is updated annually -- identifies industries and
sectors that are eligible for incentives such as income tax holidays and
duty-free importation of equipment.
Mr. Domingo said the 2012 plan remained in effect while this year’s IPP
remained unapproved. It was supposed to have been submitted last March;
the plan’s release was subsequently moved to May and then to end-June.
There was no word as to when Palace approval would be secured now that
it had been submitted.
Based on a draft, the 2013 list largely carries over the 2012 IPP that focused on the following areas:
• agriculture/agribusiness and fishery;
• creative/knowledge-based industries;
• shipbuilding;
• mass housing;;
• iron and steel;
• energy;
• infrastructure;
• research and development;
• “green” projects;
• motor vehicles;
• strategic projects;
• hospital/medical services; and
• disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery projects.
Projects will only be granted pioneer status if completely new to the Philippines.
Another proposed change is the need for an opinion from the Agriculture department before any farm project is given incentives.
The draft removes toll ways and railways from the IPP, consolidating
these under the public-private partnership project heading. Power
projects in missionary or off-grid areas are no longer included.
Income tax holidays for tourist accommodations in Cebu, Mactan, Metro Manila and Boracay were also removed.
source: Businessworld
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