MANILA, Philippines – Megaworld Corporation is bringing its signature townships up north in Laoag City as the property firm hopes to ride the wave of Ilocos Norte’s growing economy.
In a stock exchange filing on Monday, October 14, Filipino billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld said it is investing P15 billion to develop in the next 10 years a “premium mixed-use beachfront township,” which will be named Ilocandia Coastown. The property giant’s first township in Northern Luzon will span 84 hectares with its own 1.4-kilometer beach line, as well as an area with sand dunes.
“We are already present in Central and Western Visayas, the two fastest growing regions in the country when it comes to local economy. Now it’s time to be in Ilocos to complete our presence in the three fastest growing regions in the country today,” Megaworld President Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso said.
“We are very excited to showcase our signature township lifestyle in Ilocandia,” she added.
In April, the Philippine Statistics Authority noted that all economies in the country’s region recorded positive growth in 2023, with Central Visayas, Western Visayas, and the Ilocos Region ranking on top as they “exhibited higher growths than the national level growth rate.”
Megaworld will equip its first township in Marcos country with its usual features — Ilocandia Coastown will have its own town center, upscale residential developments, its own shophouse district, a commercial district.
However, the plans for its architecture will be inspired by Filipino and Spanish heritage. This would make it fit right in as the Ilocos Region is known for its heritage houses.
The township will be just 15 minutes away from the Laoag International Airport and less than 30 minutes from the restored Paoay Church, considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. Meanwhile, right next door is the Fort Ilocandia Hotel.
Megworld’s investment also comes just as Laoag City was named among the Department of Information and Communications’ (DICT) “Digital Cities 2025” program. The program identifies key locations outside Metro Manila capable of becoming “thriving business districts and viable investment hubs for Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPMs).
Aside from a booming IT-BPM sector, the program also noted Laoag City’s resilient business sector — with only 1% of its establishments shuttered despite the COVID-19 pandemic, while another 10% of new businesses were created.
“This is a wonderful start for our group’s investment in the Ilocos Region… We see a lot of opportunities in this part of the country, especially on tourism, and we hope to unlock these opportunities through this development,” said Kevin Tan, president and CEO of Megaworld’s parent company, Alliance Global Group.
Aside from Megaworld, other key conglomerates in the country are also taking notice of Ilocos Norte, home province of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.. Leading Philippine mall operator SM Supermalls is also expanding to the province with its first SM Mall — SM City Laoag — which is expected to open sometime in the last quarter of 2024.
Ilocandia Coastown will be the property giant’s 34th township development.
Last August, Megaworld had also announced a new township project in Batangas — this one themed a “wellness township” in partnership with The Farm at San Benito. – Rappler.com