AboitizLand earmarks P4B for shelter projects in 2017

AboitizLand, the property de­veloper unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), plans to un­dertake five housing projects next year worth about P4 bil­lion located outside Metro Manila, riding on the growth of residential property market.

Andoni Aboitiz, Aboiti­zLand president and chief ex­ecutive officer, said two resi­dential projects are situated in Cebu, while others are in Batan­gas, Tarlac and Cabanatuan.

“We feel that’s (residential market) where the growth in the property business will be.

And we are targeting house and lots in provincial cities rather than compete head on with big guys of Metro Manila,” he told reporters.

Aboitiz noted the residen­tial projects will be fully built out in two to three years, and these can be priced at P2 million to P3 million per unit.

He said the company aims to further increase the contribution of the residential segment to its revenues and to total income of conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV).

“We actually have been in the house and lot industry for at least 10 years in Cebu. It’s been quite successful but on a much smaller scale.”

So the mandate for Aboiti­zLand is to expand that busi­ness, and yes make a much more serious contribution to the bottom line of AEV,” he added. Aboitiz said the firm has earmarked P1.2 bil­lion for the acquisition of land for residential projects. AboitizLand is engaged in the design and develop­ment of distinct communi­ties for residential, indus­trial, and commercial use. Aboitiz said the company has purchased 250 hectares of land for the last two years since it acquired LiMA Land, the developer of LiMA Tech­nology Center in Batangas. “We’re developing 50 hectares at a time, 70 hectares depending on demand.

We’re developing continu­ously as we sell lot; to be devel­oped depending on the pace of the sales,” he said, adding they are also looking for land in Luzon for industrial uses. Aboitiz said AboitizLand allocated P4 billion to P5 billion in capital expendi­tures for residential and in­dustrial business segments. “I think the residential (segment) will be much larger and larger. In industrial (seg­ment), we’re playing a very modest game there because we also don’t think it will be an enormous business while the residential part is really a GDP (gross domestic product) play, while the industrial is core di­rect investments,” he added. AboitizLand, in partner­ship of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), has also started developing the initial phase of Gateway Central, a 17.5-hectare busi­ness district and lifestyle desti­nation in Mandaue City, Cebu. “We started constructing the mall; that will open in 2018.

We just started excavation in June. There’s BPO (business process outsourcing) com­ponent on top of the mall,” Aboitiz said.

The company also broke ground on The Outlets at Lipa, a 9.3-hectare shopping desti­nation located within the LiMA Technology Center in Batan­gas.

“That will come on stream late next year in time for Christmas season,” he added.AboitizLand reported a 40-pe­cent decline in net income in the first three quarters of 2016 to P149 million on higher oper­ating expenses, as the compa­ny continued to grow its team to become a national real es­tate player. RIZA LOZADA