MANILA – The National Development Company (NDC), the investment arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is evaluating 18 projects to invest into.
NDC General Manager Anton Mauricio said Thursday that the state-owned enterprise is eyeing to invest around PHP30.72 billion for these projects.
These projects that the NDC is eyeing to venture into include a vaccine manufacturing plant, an animal vaccine production, a medical waste disposal, the Philippine e-Commerce Platform, the Manila HealthTek, Inc., a peak off-grid solution, a solar hybrid, a waste-to-energy facility, a biowaste-to-organic fertilizer, a replication of the Davao Thermo Biotech Corp. (DTBC) to other local government units, a soil conditioner, a refrigerated warehouse, the One DTI building, an equity investment in Kacific, the purchase of broadband capacity, the NDC Industrial Estate (NDCIE), bamboo projects and a gamma irradiation facility.
“There are over a hundred projects but this is the shortlist. They are in varying stages of evaluation, approval and release,” Mauricio said in a Viber message.
Among the projects, the largest investment requirements are for the One DTI building, which the NDC is looking into pouring in PHP18.5 billion; peak off-grid solution at PHP7.5 billion; and the purchase of block broadband bandwidth to provide connectivity to unserved and underserved communities at PHP1.1 billion.
Mauricio said the NDC is planning to conduct a fundraising to meet the required investments for the projects in the pipeline.
When investing, the NDC partners with a co-investor as the state-owned enterprise cannot own a majority stake in a project.
He said that as of September 2023, the state-owned enterprise has PHP8.15 billion. These investments helped in generating 58,402 jobs in the country.
The biggest shares of the NDC’s investment were in renewable energy at 37 percent, followed by meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibition (MICE) at 18 percent; infrastructure at 17 percent; and industrial estate development at 16 percent.
The DTI’s investment arm also poured in capital in innovation, mining, and food and agriculture.
“We are transforming NDC into a niche investment platform that specializes in filling (the) gaps that the Philippines urgently needs to be filled,” Mauricio said.
He said the NDC is investing in projects that are pioneering, developmental, sustainable, inclusive and innovative.
“Looking ahead at 2024, the NDC will continue to identify gaps where it can make its modest contributions to national development,” he added. (PNA)
