CLI earmarks P2.8B for projects in Naga

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu Landmasters is spending P2.8 billion to build 3,200 economic housing units in the next three years in Naga City, Cebu.

CLI President and CEO Joe Soberano said the property firm is addressing the need for more economic houses which account for bulk of the country's widening housing backlog.

"The economic market is the segment of housing they really needs to be addressed," he said in an interview at the launch of the company's Casa Mira South project last Friday.

The subdivision project is located in a 32-hectare property in Naga City.

"We realize the need for economic houses and we're addressing it," the CEO said.

He said a price of an economic house may range from P800,000 to P1.7 million.

Currently the country's housing backlog stands at over 5 million housing units and is expected to further increase if not addressed by both the government and the industry.

Chief Operating Officer Jose Franco Soberano said they target to start construction of the project by June this year.

Before the year ends, the developer expects to finish at least 400 houses, he said.

He also said that full land development at the site is expected to be done by June of next year.

CLI's latest development is 14 kilometers from the South Road Properties and is accessible right beside the national highway.

Naga City is home to the South General Hospital, schools, a historic church, fast food stores, and a mall, among others.

CLI has allocated at least P12 billion for the development of residences, commercial spaces and hotels in major cities in the Visayas and Mindanao over the next two years.

The budget covers 11 projects scheduled for launch in Dumaguete, Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and Davao within this year.

The real estate developer expects its revenues to reach P10 billion by 2020 as it develops more leasable and for-sale properties in the Visayas and Mindanao. 

The company has posted a compounded annual growth of 150.49 percent in net income, 116.92 percent  in operating income and 61.47 percent in sales over the last five years. In 2016, it netted P702  million from revenues totaling  P2.18  billion from the construction mostly of economic housing and mid-end projects in Cebu. — (FREEMAN)