The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved P905 billion worth of projects as of December 18, Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said Tuesday night.

In a media interview, Rodolfo said the Board of Directors of the investment promotion agency will have their last meeting for the year next week and additional investment approvals will be added before 2020 ends.

He added about P68 billion of projects were endorsed to the BOI for approval.

However, even with more investment approvals next week, total registered investments with the BOI will fall short of its P1-trillion target for this year.

Last month, Trade Secretary and BOI chairman Ramon Lopez said the investment promotion agency eyes to close the year with P1-trillion investment approvals amid the challenging business and investment climate due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“We have last board meeting this coming December 28. I’m not sure if we can meet the target, maybe not,” Rodolfo said in mixed English and Filipino. “There are (investments) still in the pipeline. It’s better if we could at least hit the P1-trillion mark.”

Among the biggest investment approvals in BOI for 2020 are infrastructure projects including the Bulacan airport, toll road, and independent telecommunication towers.

There are also significant investments in the transportation sector, particularly from airline companies.

One of the latest investment approvals of BOI was the P2.3-billion polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottle recycling facility of Coca-Cola’s bottling arm Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc., Rodolfo said.

This pioneer project will be in General Trias, Cavite, he added.  CURRENTPH