Megaworld recently announced that the company will develop two township projects in Metro Bacolod namely The Upper East and the Northill Gateway. Megaworld will bring in its pioneering Live-Work-Play-Learn concept to Negros Island through its master-planned townships with world-class amenities. These are exciting developments which will surely change the landscape of Metro Bacolod and Negros Island as a whole.
More Investments Mean More Jobs for Negrenses
Probably the most important contribution of Megaworld’s projects are the investments that will be poured into the local economy as well as the jobs that will become available to Negrenses. These projects which will be developed in a span of ten years will bring in P35Billion investment and provide 250,000 jobs to Negrenses.
Megaworld’s Head of Public Relations, Mr. Harold Geronimo, was recently in Bacolod and announced the development of its upscale village, Forbes Hills at the Northill Gateway township. Forbes Hill is the first upscale residential village of Megaworld outside Metro Manila.
Forbes Hill will only have 197 lots with bigger areas (449 – 861 sqm), wider roads (12 to 20 meters wide) and first class amenities such as an events hall, fitness center, entertainment room, game room, lap pool, children’s pool, gazebo park and basketball court. One-third of the entire village will be allocated to green and open spaces, and roads.
Forbes Hill will be at the Bacolod side of the Northill Gateway, a 53-hectare township project which will be a joint-project between Megaworld’s wholly-owned susidiary Suntrust Properties Inc. and the Lacson family. The Northill Gateway will be home to upscale villages, malls, mid-rise corporate and BPO offices, and educational institutions.
The site of Northill Gateway at the access road to the Bacolod-Silay Airport used to be a sugarcane plantation. A sugarcane plantation, even as big as 53 hectares, may not have a dramatic effect in the local economy in terms of investment and employment, but a real estate development at this scale will have a ripple-effect that will change the landscape of Negros Occidental. Developments will no longer just be concentrated in Bacolod City but will spread to neighboring areas such as Talisay City. This area will become a new business and lifestyle district in the province
At the booming East area of Bacolod will soon rise The Upper East at 34-hectare property at what used to be the site of the Bacolod-Murcia Milling Company which has been vacant for several years. We will soon witness The Upper East turn into an upscale lifestyle district with residential condominiums, commercial centers, BPO office towers, tourism and leisure facilities, as well as recreational parks. It will soon become another Eastwood City.
Megaworld Will Bring World Class Amenities to Negros Occidental
When Megaworld say they will “change the way Negrenses live, work, and play,” I look at it in a positive light. We’ve seen how Megaworld transformed the once cogon grassland in Libis when they developed Eastwood City. We can expect the same thing can happen for Metro Bacolod.
Negrenses are used to accessing everything within 15 minutes but with the Megaworld township, everything will be within 5 minutes. If they are inside the township, they no longer need to drive somewhere because most of their needs can be accessed within walking distance.
Bacolod City is promoted as a destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conference, and Exhibitions (MICE). However, Bacolod still lack the number of rooms needed for huge international MICE events. International branded hotels with facilities and amenities are also lacking. We can expect Megaworld to bring to Bacolod hotels such as Marriott. Local hotels will feel the pressure of keeping their facilities at par with international standards and this will be a big boost to our tourism industry.
Megaworld is also known for their PEZA-accredited, world-class facilities for BPO companies and this is just what we need in Bacolod City which is one of only four Philippine cities considered as Center of Excellence in Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM). More PEZA-accredited cyberparks will bring in more BPO companies to Bacolod. Our local pool of talents are no longer just for customer support but also for Knowledge Process Outsourcing such as legal and medical services, business and market research, and animation and design.
Megaworld also builds environment-friendly structures which uses construction materials containing recycled materials, locally produced materials and operates its buildings in a sustainable manner and reduced carbon footprint.
Megaworld’s 8 Campus Place Building A in McKinley Hill in Taguig City was recently recognized as the first LEED Gold-certified building for Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) companies in the Philippines. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design. It is a green building ratings program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and is the most widely accepted green building rating system worldwide.
It is a future possibility that there will be a LEED-certified building in Negros Island Region because it is also consistent with the island-region’s development agenda of organic agriculture and renewable energy.
Change is inevitable and Negros Island could not rely on the sugar industry alone. Diversification is what we need in order to survive. Ten years from now we will look back to this year wondering how things can change so much in such a short time. We can choose to resist it and be left behind or embrace it, get involve, and reap the benefits. At the end of the day, what’s important is that it is for the good of Negros Island and the Negrenses.