Leading property developer Megaworld Corp. on Monday said it will increase its five-year capital expenditures (capex) by more than P50 billion, as it expanded its existing mixed-use projects while building new ones all over the country.
The company said in a statement that it intends to spend this year some P285.8 billion, or P50.8 billion more than the P230 billion that the company initially announced last year.
“Certainly, we have sufficient land bank and landholdings that will sustain our plans to further expand and grow our townships all over the Philippines. While we continue to create and expand our mixed-use communities in Metro Manila, we will also expand our presence in the provinces, especially in major growth centers,” the company said.
Megaworld Chairman Andrew L. Tan earlier said the company will build 20 new malls and commercial centers on its existing townships during the period.
The company did not give a breakdown of the capex for the five-year period. This year, however, Megaworld is allocating P65 billion for its residential and hotel projects, office buildings, as well as malls and commercial centers inside its developments.
About three quarters of the capital spending for the year will be for development projects, mostly in townships, while the rest will be for land acquisition and property investments.
The group, which also includes its units Suntrust Properties Inc., Empire East Land Holdings Inc. and Global-Estate Resorts Inc., is set to launch 22 residential projects in Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas, Boracay, Iloilo and Bacolod.
The group is also launching three hotel towers in Boracay Newcoast, 10 office towers in McKinley West, McKinley Hill, Eastwood City, Woodside City, Davao Park District and Southwoods City; and three malls and commercial centers across its townships all over the country.
Tan, in a statement issued earlier, said Megaworld’s 20 townships will be home to around 600,000 condominium and village residents and 400,000 business-process outsourcing (BPO) and office workers.
“By 2020 we expect to increase our total population by 150 percent in all of our urban townships, which will reach at least 1 million,” Tan said.
Tan added the increase in population in its mixed-use communities “indicates the opportunities that await the company’s commercial and retail partners.”
For more than two decades, Megaworld has built malls and commercial centers in each of its townships to primarily cater to the growing communities within its developments.
Among its malls and commercial centers include the Eastwood Mall, Citywalk 1 and 2, and Cyber and Fashion Mall in Eastwood City; Newport Mall in Newport City; Venice Piazza and Tuscany in McKinley Hill and Lucky Chinatown in
Binondo, Manila.
There will be new malls in Uptown Bonifacio and McKinley Hill, both in Fort Bonifacio, opening within the year. Megaworld started its commercial and retail business when Eastwood City was established in 1999. Eastwood City, the country’s first cyberpark, is now home to almost 25,000 condominium residents and around 70,000 BPO and office workers. It used to be a 16-hectare township but expanded its land area last year.