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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—Spurred by a fresh infusion worth $684
million by shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and
Construction Corp., new investment commitments in the
Subic Bay Freeport soared to $1.38 billion in the first
half of this year, clearing in just six months the
$1-billion target for 2007 set by the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) early this year.
According to the 2007 midyear report released by the
SBMA on Tuesday, the agency chalked up 64 new investment
projects from January to June this year, bringing the
total number of projects in
Subic to 831 with a cumulative investment value of $5.149 billion.
Subic’s
current cumulative investment value had also exceeded
SBMA’s initial investment target of $5 billion for 2010,
and is now just $2.5-billion shy of the revised target
announced by SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza last
January.
Fully 55
percent of Subic’s total committed investments today
were generated in the last 21 months alone, the SBMA
pointed out.
While
the first-semester investments missed by four investment
projects the 2006 first-half total of 68, and fell short
by 8 percent on last year’s projected employment
figures, they “added up to [an increase] of 2 percent
over last year’s $1.356-billion total,” the SBMA report
said.
The bulk
of Subic’s incoming investments in 2006 was composed of
the $1-billion pledge from Hanjin for the construction
of the world’s fourth- biggest shipyard at
Subic’s
Redondo
Peninsula.
Again,
of the 64 projects approved by the SBMA in the first
half of 2007, Hanjin’s $684-million shipyard expansion
was the biggest new investment.
In terms
of value, Hanjin’s project was followed by the
$431.6-million coal-fired thermal power project to be
put up by the Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc; the
$127-million Ampelos Tower project by KT Global Subic
Inc.; the operation of Subic’s new container terminal by
the Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. at $89.1
million; and the $20-million tobacco distribution hub
proposed by Philip Morris Philippines.
These
five biggest projects and five others worth a total of
$14.4 million already accounted for some 98.76 percent,
or $1.366 billion, of the total investment pledges
generated for the period.
The top
10 projects are also expected to contribute a total of
9,853 jobs once they become fully operational, the SBMA
said.
As it
was in 2006, Hanjin was again the top employment
generator for the period, with 8,800 projected jobs for
its expansion program.
In terms
of active work force, meanwhile, the SBMA reported an
increase of 4,685 workers in the Subic free port during
the first semester of 2007. This figure represented a
7-percent growth over the 2006 yearend total of 63,485.
The
services sector employed almost half, or 47.93 percent,
of Subic’s present work force, while the manufacturing
and services sectors took in more than the other half at
25.82 percent and 25.45 percent, respectively. Domestic
helpers and caretakers composed the rest of the hirees,
the SBMA added.
Olongapo
City
still contributed the most number of workers in the
Subic Bay Freeport at almost 45 percent of the total,
followed by Zambales with 22 percent,
Bataan with 14 percent, the National Capital Region with 6 percent,
Pampanga with 3 percent, and other areas with 10
percent.
In the
same report, the SBMA announced that export and import
transactions in Subic had increased in the first half of
this year, further bolstering ship calls by 20 percent
and increasing cargo traffic in Subic’s seaports.
The SBMA
said the free port enjoyed a “hearty growth of 41
percent” or $120 million in export values, while
registering a slight growth of 8 percent in imports and
an increase of $2.43 million in transshipments.
Subic’s
seaports, meanwhile, recorded a 13.19-percent increase
in revenues, a 6.11-percent growth in containerized
throughput, and a 2.88-percent increase in
noncontainerized throughput during the first half.
Revenue
collections in Subic, however, suffered a decline in the
first six months of 2007, as the Bureau of Customs (BOC)
here reported a combined cash and noncash collection of
P2.67 billion—14-percent lower than its record for the
first half of 2006.
Still, a
30-percent increase in tax collections by the Bureau of
Internal Revenue—a total of P727 million from the
5-percent levy on gross and withholding taxes—more than
made up for the BOC shortfall, thereby pushing Subic to
record a combined revenue remittance of P3.39 billion,
the SBMA said. |
