BPO growth eyed in Cebu’s Mactan Island

  CEBU CITY – The “Visayas BPO triangle” to be set up in Iloilo, Cebu and Bacolod will generate 300,000 jobs in the next three years, commercial property developer Megaworld announced on Thursday (August 4). Jericho Go, Senior Vice President of Megaworld, said that the developer is targeting around 175,000 square meters of office spaces for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in these three key cities in the next three years to form the Visayas BPO Triangle. “If we talk about direct and indirect jobs, we see around 300,000 for Cebu, Iloilo and Bacolod by end-2019. These include jobs that can be generated within our townships such as those from transport and retail,” Go said. Business from the triad would also generate 50,000 full-time jobs, Go said. In Cebu, construction is ongoing on a 30-hectare development in Lapu-Lapu City. The project, The Mactan Newtown, will bring office spaces totaling 80,000 square meters by next year. Megaworld is also set to open two more office towers: Tower One Plaza Magellan, which will be completed this year, and Pacific World Tower, which will be completed in 2017. The towers will bring an additional 34,000 square meters of fresh office spaces in The Mactan Newtown. Other towers that have been previously launched are One World Center, Manulife Center and 8 Newtown Boulevard. “In Cebu, there is a growing preference for BPO locators to be in Mactan Island because of the traffic problem and congestion in Cebu City. We see Lapu-Lapu City as a big alternative location for BPOs in Central Visayas especially that the new and bigger Mactan-Cebu International Airport will be completed soon. The Mactan Newtown is only 15 minutes away from the airport while going to Cebu City takes you around 1 ½ hours in today’s traffic condition,” says Go. In the company’s 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park township, inventory of office spaces will reach around 33,000 square meters by the end of this year with the expected completion of one more office tower, Three Techno Place, offering around 8,700 square meters of fresh office spaces. The first four office towers, namely Richmonde Tower, One Global Center, Two Global Center and One Techno Place have already been fully leased. Two more office towers are up for completion next year up to 2018. These are Two Techno Place and Festive Walk Office Tower. “By end-2018, we will have around 65,000 square meters of office spaces in Iloilo Business Park and we will have more first time locators lined up for Iloilo,” reveals Go. In Bacolod, the company plans to build office towers in its 34-hectare The Upper East township with an initial inventory of 30,000 square meters. To date, the company has already started the land development of the area, which was formerly the site of the Bacolod-Murcia Milling Company.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