Manila-based conglomerates are trooping to Puerto Princesa City, including shopping mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc., as the local government is pushing for an integrated development of the Palawan capital.
Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron said the SM Group is pouring its investment into the city, with the company buying almost all of the beachfront properties in the west coast, from Barangay Napsan to Simpocan.
‘I don’t know how many hectares. But they buy mostly the beachfront properties,’ Bayron said.
At the moment, SM Prime does not have any beachfront property in Puerto Princesa. It currently operates SM Puerto Princesa, a 53,000-square meter asset consisting mostly of shopping mall that incorporates sustainable, energy-saving designs suited to Palawan’s tropical climate.
Bayron said the company has already bought the properties some two weeks ago, with the third generation of the Sy family handling the deal.
He said the city is also enticing the Sy Group to invest in Santa Lucia Environmental Estate, which was located at the far end of the property that the SM bought.
‘They (the Sy group) will make it (the property that they bought) like Bali,’ Bayron said, referring to the popular Indonesian tourism destination that attracts more tourists than the entire Philippines combined.
Bayron did not state whether the SM Group will invest in Santa Lucia, which the city government is developing in partnership with the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
The city is developing Santa Lucia, a P200-billion masterplan. The property is about 500 hectares, which was carved out of the 1,072-hectare property of the Iwahig Penal Colony.
The Iwahig prison will retain the more than half of the property.
The Ayala Group, which operates various resorts in El Nido, also attempted to buy properties in Puerto Princesa twice, but did not continue in both occasions, the mayor said.
The master plan of Santa Lucia development includes nine districts covering hospitality, tourism dwellings, commercial activities, eco-producing, agri-producing, open spaces, environmental protection, and support infrastructure. The plan identifies 245 lots, including 75 big lots,150 dwelling lots and 20 farm lots.
Bayron said the game changer of the development is the convention center to attract more people in the Palawan capital.
For hotel groups, historic developers and hospitality operators, the plan allocates 7.14 hectares to hotel and hospitality development with 10 proposed hotel sites. The concept includes resort hotels, wellness resorts, ecologists, long-stay seats, restaurants, and meetings and functional facilities.
Eco-tourism is also being targeted in the property, which will include forest trails, mangrove, boardwalk, canopy walk, observation tower, planting, picture-based events, and potential ecological growth.