[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’‘WV construction boom fueled by high demand’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By Rhick Lars VladimerAlbay
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Tuesday, august 1, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO TRAVEL GUIDE
Ongoing projects begin to rise at the 72-hectare township of the Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao. The area is seen as “the next central business district” in Iloilo City. Megaworld is investing P35 billion for its development in the next 10 years, its biggest and most exciting venture in Western Visayas.
ILOILO City – With P2,818,257,000 worth of construction projects undertaken in Western Visayas for the first quarter of 2017 alone, industry insiders are attributing the infrastructure boom in the region to the high demand for both residential and business developments.
“Our projects are market-driven. Whatever the response of the market, that’s what we base our future developments on,” said Harold Geronimo, Megaworld’s head of public relations and media affairs, during a press briefing.
“If Ilonggos show they want more residential units, we will build more to accommodate them, same as our BPO (business process outsourcing) towers, as well as commercial spaces and developments,” he added. “This is why we move so fast when residential developments are concerned. Even faster than Cebu, even faster than our other residential developments in other parts of Visayas and Mindanao.”
BILLIONS IN INFRA
Aside from the billions in government infrastructure projects set to rise in Western Visayas – following President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build, build, build” mandate – the private sector also continues to fuel a thriving construction industry in the region.
With plans for the P27-billion Panay-Guimaras-Negros (PGN) island bridge project and the P30-billion revamp of the Iloilo International Airport – among others – cited as priority projects under the current administration’s “golden age of infrastructure”, private sector construction projects also continue to rise in the developing region.
For the first quarter of 2017, the total number of constructions generated from approved building permits tallied at 1,225 in Western Visayas – marginally below the 1,233 of the fourth quarter of 2016, but still sustaining the recent boom in the industry.
This accounts for a floor area of at least 336,606 square meters, valued at around P2,818,257,000 worth of construction projects – higher than the previous quarter’s P2,274,086,000, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The bulk of these construction projects are for business and nonresidential buildings with a floor area of 226,368 sq. meters and valued at around P1,733,535,000. Residential developments tally for the remaining 108,267 sq. meters and P1,034,228,000.
Western Visayas accounts for 3.5 percent of the overall number of private construction projects nationwide in the first quarter of this year. At least 35,101 constructions were generated from approved building permits in the first quarter of 2017. This number showed a 7.1 percent increase – or a 2,322 constructions increment – from the 32,779 constructions recorded during the same quarter of 2016.
ILONGGO INVESTMENT
“During the past four years, we have been extremely overwhelmed by how Ilonggos have well-received our residential projects here at Iloilo Business Park,” shared Jennifer Palmares-Ong, vice president for Marketing of Megaworld-Iloilo Business Park. “We have been experiencing a continuing rise in the demand for residential properties since 2013 since we launched our first residential project.”
Palmares-Ong adds that their first residential tower was sold out in just one month, prompting two more towers which also sold fast in just seven months.
“Ilonggos all over the world,” says Palmares-Ong of handful of their clients, adding that the appreciation of their properties is pegged at 18.6 percent annually. “They’re all excited to invest in the growth of Iloilo City. It’s a good mix, we have a few who are expats. Some nurses and doctors who are working abroad. We also have a lot of repeat buyers.”
She adds that their commercial lots are also a hot commodity.
“For our commercial lots, we are giving hotel owners and other business establishments a chance to put up their buildings here inside Iloilo Business Park. Right now it’s more than 80 percent sold already,” Palmares-Ong said.
The executive also revealed that Megaworld has already turned over lots to Metrobank and Union Bank, as the two financial institutions plan to construct their regional headquarters in the emerging metro./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
