The Ayala Corp. has poured in P1 billion worth of investments in Legazpi City, a year before the Southern Luzon International Airport operates in the Bicol region, specifically in Albay province.
Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said on Saturday evening during his 51st birthday celebration held at the city motorpool compound, where a P30-million convention center is being built, that Ayala Corp. has invested P1 billion for the construction of a new mall right at the heart of the city.
“Because of the great potential and business opportunities in Legazpi, though we’re a small city, the Ayala Corp. did not hesitate and invested P1 billion worth of new mall,” Rosal added.
Legazpi City, which is known in the travel industry as the “City of Fun and Adventure,” was voted as the
second livable city in the country in last year’s search for the country’s top 3 most-livable cities.
In the ranking among the three, Iloilo came first; Legazpi City, second; and Cebu, third.
The search, called the Livable Cities Design Challenge, was organized by the National Competitiveness Council, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2015 National Organizing Council, World Wildlife Fund, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction, Asia Society, Urban Land Institute and the United States Assistance for International Development, which has been supporting the Cities Development Initiative programs, like Project Invest.
The Ayala mall project is expected to be operational by December.
Rosal said Ayala Corp. took over the construction of the mall from Liberty Commercial Center (LCC), which started to build the project in the site of the old public market.
The LCC has a chain of malls in Bicol and is owned by the Filipino-Chinese Tan family from Tabaco City, who pioneered the establishment of malls in three key cities of the region—Tabaco, Legazpi and Naga.
The new investment is expected to generate more jobs for the Bicolanos and additional income for the government.
Aside from the additional P1-billion investment of the Ayala Corp., SM and Robinsons managements are trying to secure big lands, where they would put up multibillion-peso investments, apart from their chains of supermarkets in the region.
The Asian Institute of Management described Legazpi as a fast-rising city in terms of infrastructure development, business growth and notable peace and order condition following good governance —bouncing rapidly back on its feet after the devastating impact of Supertyphoon Reming eight years ago.
Legazpi is the center of trade and commerce in the Bicol region, where the seat of national government and the university belt of the region are located.
With massive infrastructure development, business growth and big influx of foreign and domestic tourists in this city, Legazpi, according to Rosal, is the next investment hub in the country after to Davao and Cebu.
PNA
8 comments
Aside from tourism and MALL service oriented economy, ALBAY, Legazpi and Daraga must develop their own local manufacturing industry to make more sustainable and inclusive..
with this latest development, there is now a more urgent need to further improve Legazpi City’s power and water supplies, road networks, drainage systems, and traffic management. rizal street, the main road, should be a strictly NO PARK ZONE from BU until the new mall mentioned. new buildings being constructed along the roads or anywhere else must be required to provide enough space for parking of their customers. SAA and DWCL should have been asked to donate a lane or two for the public tranpo that usually service their students. parkign should be limited to the side streets of the main road. otherwise, within the next 5-10 years, traffic will be terrible.
Sus, always has a electricity shut down. -.-
One important thing is the parking space of vehicles, there should be parking on eache floor and an elevator, and a large area for common people to hangout and were anybody can fit while shopping. There should be an area were people can sit and a waterfall you get the idea.
It should environment friendly, there should a sitting area and if you want to relax a chair massager for the right price were anybody can have a massage mga 2, and restrooms.
Please build a good one guys, ok.
I just hope it would be a well-planned mall. No drastic effects to the environment. Otherwise, it will only contribute to more flooding and pollution.
Thanks for sharing this a while back! Now they’ve been able to make the Ayala Malls Legazpi and I’d like to see some updates about it.