Subic investment doubles in 1st half

SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza (2nd from left) and Sunnew Investments chairman Lee Yin Hung (2nd from right) enter into an agreement for the setting up of a $75-M wind farm project in the Subic Bay Freeport. Joining them are SBMA senior deputy administrator for business Stefani Saño, and Sunnew-Subic representative Robin Tan. Sunnew is the biggest investment commitment for the first half of 2010.

INVESTMENT pledges for new projects in Subic Freeport more than doubled to $185.87 million in the first half from a year ago, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said yesterday.

This is a turnaround from the 54.3% decline in SBMA investment approvals recorded in the first six months of 2009. The value involved 56 new projects that were approved by the agency in that period.

“Last year, our monthly investment average in the first half was only about $17 million due to the financial slowdown that affected trade in Subic,” the press release quoted SBMA Administrator Armand C. Arreza as saying.

“Considering that we’re still at the tail end of the global recession, it’s quite remarkable that Subic would be hitting more than $30 million per month in terms of new investments,” Mr. Arreza noted.

Of the total in new project commitments, foreign direct investments made up $114.58 million or an increase of 98.28% over the first-half record of $57.78 million in 2009.

Local investments totaled $71.29 million, a 140% increase over last year’s $29.67 million.

Mr. Arreza said that once operational, the pledged new projects are expected to generate 6,725 more jobs.

Mr. Arreza also cited the growing participation of local companies in the economic development of the Subic Freeport, made more evident as the global slump discouraged the entry of some prospective foreign investors.

He said that of the top 10 investors in the first half this year, seven companies were fully Filipino-owned.

The biggest investment commitment, however, was made by the Chinese firm Sunnew-Subic Investments Ltd., which pledged $75 million for the construction of wind energy projects at two sites in Subic Bay Freeport.

Mr. Arreza said that Sunnew-Subic has proposed to build 25 wind turbines in a 50,000-square meter area in both the Mt. Sta. Rita and the Redondo Peninsula areas.

The project is designed to produce about 50 megawatts of power by 2012, and will initially employ 103 workers.

The second biggest project pledged in the first half belongs to Filipino firm Subic Bay Town Center, Inc., which committed to spend $36.42 million on a commercial center.

With projected employment of 4,320, the Subic Bay Town Center project is also expected to be one of the biggest employers in the free port.

Coming in third are Alubat Aviation Composites Phils., a German-United Kingdom joint venture in aircraft repair and maintenance services, and Vapco International Corp., a joint Jordanian-Filipino venture, which pledged $15 million each.

Rounding up the top 10 largest projects are: Sands of Triboa Resorts, a Filipino firm with commitment of $14.37 million; Fertuna Holdings Corp., Filipino, $5.35 million; Holy Land Subic Foundation, Inc., Filipino, with $5.33 million; San Bernardo Shores Beach, Filipino, $2.21 million; Advance Subic Screw Inc., Taiwanese, $1.5 million; CW-Subic Bay Dev’t, Inc., Filipino, $1.49 million; and Chinmei Metal Mfg. Inc., Filipino, with $1.45 million. Rey Garcia