By James A. Loyola

Megaworld Corporation, the country’s largest developer of integrated urban townships and lifestyle communities, is planning to launch six more townships this year until 2020.

In a press briefing, Megaworld Chief Strategy Officer Kevin L. Tan said the new townships—five in Luzon and one in Mindanao—will bring the company’s township portfolio to 30 by next year.

Of the five Luzon townships, two will be in northern Luzon and three in the south. The firm currently has only its Davao township in Mindanao. Tan declined to provide more details about the new projects.

He noted though that, these new developments will cover an expansive land area of around 2,000 hectares. Most of these are from new land acquisitions carried by Megaworld Group’s land banking efforts during the last five years.

“Currently, we have a little over 4,000 hectares of both developed and developable land. By next year, we will increase our land ownership and land holding to more than 6,000 hectares,” said Tan.

He explained that they continue to “focus on our goal to expand to key growth areas in the provinces; help boost tourism, provide jobs, and further spur economic opportunities outside of Metro Manila.”

“We want to expand our footprint now, even in the Visayas because we realize that we are quite Luzon-centric. We’re quite excited with all of the developments that are happening especially with all the infrastructure coming in. In a way we are positioning ourselves already,” Tan said.

He said Megaworld is also expanding its townships from the core Live, Work and Play concept to include education, tourism, museums, government services, and medical centers.

At present, Megaworld already has 24 townships and lifestyle communities spread across the country: nine in Metro Manila, eight in other areas of Luzon, six in the Visayas, and one in Mindanao.

The Megaworld Group is composed of mother company Megaworld Corporation and its subsidiaries Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. (GERI), Empire East Land Holdings, Inc. (EELHI), and Suntrust Properties, Inc.