“Now that the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been awarded as an outstanding chamber of commerce throughout the country, all eyes are on us,” NOCCI president Edward Du said yesterday.

NOCCI bested 40 top chambers all over the country, including the Makati Chamber, which means that investors are now looking for business opportunities in Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental.

Business opportunities in tourism may be coming to the city and the province after the 2016 presidential and local elections, with no less than Ambassador Alfredo Yao, president and founder of Zest-O Corp., already signifying his intention to take a serious look at Dumaguete, Du said.

Du said he believes the No. 1 consideration for winning the award was NOCCI's advocacies on job generation, implementation of pro-poor projects, guidance extended to micro, small and medium enterprises and its no-cost proposal in setting up the Negros Island Region.

He said for the President to adopt NOCCI's proposal to establish interim regional offices in both provinces within a 3-year transition period with zero cost to the national government was very rare for a small chamber with 100 members more or less.

The idea was very novel, Du quoted the awards committee as saying, and that the proposal might be a precedent for other regions or other provinces who want to separate from other regions in the country.

The national government would have spent P40 billion for the establishment of regional centers between Kabankalan and Mabinay, but with the idea coming from NOCCI, no single centavo will be spent.

Du also said, NOCCI could be the only chamber in the country to organize a local food safety team to ensure the safety of products, aside from the fact the NOCCI is the only chamber that has caused the lowering of the electricity cost from P11 to P8.50 per kilowatt/hour.

The number of investments it has generated last year has reached more than P10 billion in the province, P2 billion for the ethanol plant of United Robina Corp. in Bais City, P4 billion for the geothermal expansion of Energy Development Corp.;

Establishment of additional two private hospitals in the province with investments amounting to almost P2 billion, a P500 million steel factory in the municipality of Valencia, the Solar farm in Bais City which is a joint venture between Paul Montenegro and the Ayala group;

The opening soon of the City Mall in Dumaguete City, renovation of Paseo de Perdices at the Rizal Boulevard in Dumaguete estimated to cost from P50 to P80 million more or less and the Prince Warehouse in Bais City and many other local players, Du said.

For 2016, NOCCI is looking forward to a new investment which is the propagation of Bana Grass in Amlan and the additional 60 megawatt power plant of renewable energy through EDC.

At present, EDC is producing 240 megawatts of power which is more than enough to supply the entire Negros Island Region plus the additional 60 megawatts for next year, Du pointed out.

Negros Oriental can only absorb 40 to 45 megawatts of power from the Palinpinon Geothermal Plant while Negros Occidental consumes about 100 megawatts of power.*JG

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