4 projects worth P183B get green lane access

MANILA  -The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said four investment projects had been approved under the government’s green lane program, marking the first wave of investments to qualify for the scheme launched earlier this month.

These are SunAsia Energy Inc.’s 1,300-megawatt (MW) floating solar project in Laguna de Bay worth P66 billion, NK Solar One Inc.’s 250-MW floating solar project in Caliraya, Laguna worth P15 billion, Phil-tower Consortium Inc.’s 7,907 built-to-suit common telecommunications towers worth P52 billion, and Narra Technology Development Park’s P50-billion Hyperscale Data center in New Clark City, Tarlac.

The Board of Investments (BOI), lead investment promotion agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, on Thursday said these four projects issued green lane certificates were worth a combined P183 billion.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual on Wednesday said these four were among 12 investment projects that had applications at the One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments, all of which are expected to create at least 19,250 jobs.

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The DTI said that the green lane for investments is meant to expedite, streamline, and automate government approval and registration processes for investments deemed as a priority or strategic.

Pascual also said that these 12 projects—which president Marcos Jr. cited during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) as having a cumulative worth of P230 billion—span several industries, including the renewal energy sector as well as digital infrastructure, and manufacturing. Pascual said additional projects worth P78.5 billion are already under evaluation.

“Among the projects being evaluated are five more floating solar projects, a micro-hydro electric plant, a reinforcing steel bars producer, and a section mill project,” the BOI said in a statement.

The green lanes program is provided under Executive Order No. 18 that was issued in February.

The BOI is targeting P1.5 trillion worth of investment approvals in 2023 after recording P729 billion last year, an annual performance which marked an 11 percent increase compared to the P655 billion during the previous year.

READ:  BOI investments doubled to P698B in H1