By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, Oct. 9 (PNA) — About 200,000 to 300,000 jobs will be created in the country once the six-year program of the automotive industry roadmap will be completed.
During the public hearing of the auto industry roadmap in the Senate Thursday, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Assistant Secretary Rafaelita Aldaba said the government projects that up to 300,000 direct and indirect employment will be added in the country when the roadmap for the automotive sector will be successful.
Aldaba added that most of these additional employment will require skilled workers, in which the market can supply.
To date, the industry created 340,000 direct and indirect employment.
The automotive industry roadmap or the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) eyes to give fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to the industry players in order to have a more competitive local automotive sector.
In order to have a competitive domestic sector, production cost gap between locally-assembled and imported vehicles must be closed.
It was noted that prices of locally-assembled vehicles in the country are much higher than those being produced in other ASEAN market.
DTI Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. noted in the same public hearing that production cost gap between locally-assembled vehicles and imported vehicles is within US$ 1,500 to US$ 1,800.
Cristobal said in order to bridge the gap, further government support will be needed; adding that the existing incentive package that the government provides such as income tax holiday and duty free importation are not enough to meet a competitive cost.
He added the auto industry roadmap is currently in its final stages as issues in fiscal incentives are yet to conclude.
On the other note, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras earlier said the administration eyes to set US$ 600 million under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) to support the automotive industry for the six years implementation of the roadmap.
But in order to benefit from the government’s perks, industry players must meet criteria which will be disclosed soon by the government.
In the past interviews, the DTI eyes to require industry players to produce 40,000 units per model annually to get particular incentives.
The government is also looking at giving incentives to those investors who can put up large parts manufacturing in the domestic market that will make the local supply chain more competitive. (PNA)