GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 January) – The city government has generated some P149
million in revenues from the application and renewal of business permits during the last three weeks, an official said Friday.
City Administrator Jose Mariano Gonzales said the figure was based on the total payments made as of Thursday by local business owners that availed of the city government’s one-stop shop for renewal and application of business registration that opened last Jan. 2 at the city hall lobby here.
He said this year’s income so far is only P15 million short of the P164 million generated by the local government in the entire 2011.
The city government has not yet released the figures regarding the number of businesses that have applied and renewed their registrations since the one-stop-shop would still be open until late Friday (Jan. 20) evening.
“We’re on track towards meeting or even exceeding that target since a number of investors have already signified to roll out their ventures and projects this year,” Gonzales said.
He said three more hotel projects will commence this year while the city’s biggest shopping mall, KCC Mall of GenSan, has signified to begin its expansion before the end of the year.
Gonzales said a hotel would reportedly be built within the SM City General Santos mall complex, which is slated to open within the first half of the year, while another investor is also building another one along the Jose Catolico Avenue here.
The third hotel would be built by Microtel hotel chain, he said.
An official of the city’s business chamber earlier said three call center companies are expected to expand this year at the newly-opened Mabuhay Information Technology Park here.
Meantime, City Permits and Licensing Division chief Geraldine Zamora said the one-stop-shop for the application and renewal of business registration is so far running smoothly due to new innovations earlier introduced by the local government.
She said they have cut down the renewal and application process by eliminating the notarial requirement for their clients’ documents.
Zamora said they also opened last month a pre-registration for their prospective clients through forms that were made available online. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)