Posted on June 01, 2011 10:10:00 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
MEGAWIDE CONSTRUCTION Corp., a major contractor of SM Development Corp., has secured a P1.5-billion deal to continue the development of a $750-million resort complex along Roxas Boulevard, it said in a statement yesterday.
The new contract comes after Megawide Construction completed in January the P600-million construction of the first phase of the development dubbed Belle Grande Manila Bay.
Belle Corp., the high-end leisure developer and gaming firm controlled by the family of mall and banking tycoon Henry Sy, is behind the project.
Once completed, Belle Grande Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard will feature 19,626 square meters of casino space. The first floor will be allotted for the mass market and will be fitted with 1,600 slot machines and 300 to 325 gaming tables.
Other amenities such as the 6,000-square-meter VIP gaming areas, six hotel towers with 1,000 rooms -- including 86 luxury suites -- are meanwhile targeted to open in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Belle had said it will be tapping three hotel operators to run the three hotels on the site.
“The new contract includes construction of structural and civil works of the two hotel towers, four condotels and an additional casino floor,” Megawide Construction said in the statement.
“Verbally, the contract was awarded to us a few weeks ago. The contract was given on Monday,” Manuel Louie B. Ferrer, marketing head of Megawide Construction, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Mr. Ferrer said the new contract was awarded a few months after the completion of phase 1 given numerous changes in the design of the casino and resort complex.
“We have the order to finalize the structure by the end of the year,” he added.
The contractor said it will use the so-called MEVA KHK Formwork construction system to secure the high ceilings.
Moving forward, Mr. Ferrer said Megawide Construction might bid for the succeeding phases of the development like the detailing of the condotels and other towers.
Megawide Construction started operations just before the Asian financial crisis in 1997 with a P5.5-million, three-storey building as its first project.
Aside from SM Development, other firms such as the Antel Group, the Bench Group, Prince Jun Development Group, Bellevue Hotel Group, and Dynamic Realty make up Megawide’s roster of clients. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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