The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority said it generated P50.4 billion in committed investments from new and expansion projects in 2022, up 181 percent from P17.29 billion in 2021.
SBMA administrator and chief executive Rolen Paulino said the agency approved 133 new investment projects with combined value of P14.06 billion, while 38 Freeport locators committed to invest additional capital of P36.34 billion.
“We have reconciled the figures for new and expansion investments. The authority has approved 133 new projects, thanks to the aggressive marketing strategy of our business and investment group,” he said in his first state-of-the-Freeport address Tuesday.
The expansion projects recorded an increase of over 6,0000 percent from P591 million in 2021.
Paulino said the expanding companies partially started delivering commitments in 2022 or were about to initiate the rollout of expansion projects in 2023.
The biggest expansion projects were the P14.52-billion project of Vectrus Subic Corp., the P10.74-billion Agila South Inc. project, the P6.28-billion Aguia NT Naval Inc. and the P4.2-billion expansion of Nidec Subic Philippines Corp.
The top five new investments were the P7-billion power project of Northern Palawan Power Generation Corp., P1.95 billion by UNCO United Oil Gas Philippines Inc., P1.5 billion by Tawi-Tawi Proem Trading Corp. and the P1.1-billion project of Agila Subic Compass Inc.
SBMA also reported it remitted P1.34 billion as dividends to the national government in 2022, up by 1.98 percent from P1.11 billion in 2021.
Paulino said revenues and dividends shared to the government both surpassed pre-pandemic figures.
“Despite the challenges during the past year, all revenue collection and trade facilitation revenues increased,” he said, noting that revenues from committed investments significantly contributed to the overall revenue generation program at the Freeport.
Exports from the Freeport also went up by 8 percent to $1.47 billion in 2022 from $1.36 billion in 2021. Imports also increased by 10 percent to $1.85 billion from $1.68 billion.
Meanwhile, employment at SBMA grew 5.2 percent to 149,681 workers in 2022 from 142,177 in 2021 on increasing number of locators and projects at the Freeport.
Subic maintains its reputation as the top tourist destination in Central Luzon. In 2022, same-day tourist arrivals in Subic reached 9.4 million.