Qatar investments in Philippines firmly ‘on track’, says official

Several Qatari investors are in the process of registering their companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) to bring in $140mn worth of investments out of the $206mn pledged during President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to Qatar in April, an official has said.The Qatari investors were part of a new batch of companies from the Middle East that visited the Philippines recently with a plan to establishing a wide range of businesses in the southern island of Mindanao and other parts of the country. During Duterte’s state visit, 13 companies signed letters of intent (LoIs) with Peza director general Charito Plaza in the presence of Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M Lopez.The investors expressed interest to build retirement village projects, hotel and tourism ecozones, IT services and digital marketing, ecozone management services, poultry and halal food processing, as well as agro-industrial farming, and hospital and medical tourism economic zones, among others.In compliance with the Philippines’ Commission on Audit rules, Peza consultant and special adviser to the director general for the Middle East & Northern Europe Joseph Timothy Rivera submitted a report to Peza deputy director general for Finance & Administration and officer-in-charge Justo Porfirio LL Yusingco.In his report, Rivera said GBS & Blackleaf Consortium will be investing $90mn in the Philippines and had already identified a 300-hectare area for a coastal retirement village in Guimaras, Iloilo, and another 1,100-hectare area for agro-tourism in Sibunag, Guimaras, according to Rivera.Adel Sa’Adeh, special adviser to the director general for the Middle East, also said ecozone developers KTS Trading & The Penguin Group will be investing a combined capital worth $13mn and have already selected a 3,000-hectare property for a multi-agro industrial and agro-tourism projects in Mauban, Quezon.Sa’Adeh said Management Solution and Final Touch Construction will each invest $1mn, while Static International will invest $3mn inside the ecozone to be developed by KTS Trading & The Penguin Group.Other companies that are processing their SEC and Peza registration include Chitilian Group for Philippine Countryside and Homeland Development Corporation ($5mn worth of investments), Al Hakeem Group of Companies ($1mn), and Nano Factory for Chemical Additives ($10mn), Rivera said.Medical Mission Group International, with an investment worth $10mn, is also working on its registration with the SEC and Peza, as well as with the Cooperative Development Authority. Phili Bio Peat, which is investing $1mn, had already completed its SEC and Peza registration, Rivera said.