NEDA Board approves priority investment sectors and infrastructure projects
by Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board have approved the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) listing business areas to be given incentives, and the revised list of priority infrastructure projects under the Medium Term Public Investment Plan (MTPIP).

“The major legacies of our administration shall be a balanced budget and infrastructure,” the President told the NEDA Board. “In this way we shall set the nation on course to achieve First-World status by 2020.”

Drafted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in consultation with concerned agencies and the general public, the IPP includes the following priority investment areas:

Agribusiness, Information and Communications Technology, Electronics, Motor Vehicle Products, Energy, Infrastructure, Tourism, Shipbuilding/Shipping, Iron and Steel, Research and Development/Training Institutions, and Machinery and Equipment.

Also to enjoy incentives under the plan are export industries and their key suppliers, as well as sectors promoted under certain laws, including tree plantations, mining, quarrying and minerals processing, oil refining, storage and distribution, and industries involved in proper solid waste management, air quality, and assistance to disabled persons.

Priority projects budgeted at P2,016.8 billion are in the revised MTPIP, including: transport projects valued at P952 billion (47.2% of total); power generation and transmission, P456 billion (22.6%); water resources, P347 billion (17.2%); social infrastructure, P177.8 billion (8.8%); and telecommunications and digital infrastructure, P66 billion (3.3%). (OPS/PIA)

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