By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The
Philippine Star) | Updated February 6, 2014 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp.
of property tycoon Andrew L. Tan is completing this year six new business
process outsourcing (BPO) towers that will further cement its position as the
biggest office developer and landlord in the country.
The property firm is adding 112,000
square meters (sqm) of office space that will allow Megaworld to cater to
increasing demand from existing clients and new locators, company executives
said.
“Megaworld remains committed to be the
leading office space provider in the Philippines. Year after year, we are
looking into aggressively expanding our office space inventory to increase our
rental income,” said Jericho Go, first vice-president for business leasing and
development of Megaworld.
“We expect the completion of six more
office towers this year: two in Uptown Bonifacio, two in Mactan Newtown and
also two in Iloilo Business Park,” he said.
The additional 112,00 sqm of space
suited for information technology-BPO and corporate offices will allow
Megaworld to end the year with a portfolio of 712,000 sqm of office space.
Megaworld currently has 26 corporate
office towers in the country: 10 in Eastwood City in Quezon City, 14 in
McKinley Hill in Taguig, one in Newport City in Pasay and one in The Mactan
Newtown in Cebu.
At least 126 companies are leasing
from Megaworld’s office spaces offered in various townships in Metro Manila,
Cebu and Iloilo. IT-BPO companies like Accenture, HP, Wells Fargo, IBM, United
Health Group, Thomson Reuters, Dell, WNS and Samsung account for around 87
percent of the total leased space.
“As we continue to build more
state-of-the-art, environment-friendly office towers, we hope to help grow the
country’s BPO sector by encouraging more companies to come and operate in the
Philippines,” Go said, adding that the company “live-work-play-learn” township
communities has earned the confidence of many locators.
Noel Mendoza, country director for
application services of HP, said locators want a community atmosphere with the
convenience of various offerings like events place and retail shops.
The growth in the country’s BPO sector
bodes well for Megaworld and other office space providers, said Julius Guevara,
associate director and head of research and consultancy practice at Colliers
International Philippines.
“Vacancy rates (of BPO buildings) is
three percent as of end-2013, which is unhealthy because it is not that
efficient. If a locator will go to the Philippines, it will be hard-pressed to
find office space,” Guevara said.
To date, the are 960,000 employees
involved in the country’s BPO industry, which bring in $16 billion in annual
revenues.
Go said in the past, bulk of the new
office space are usually taken up by existing clients but their latest projects
have been drawing the attention of new locators.
Megaworld is pursuing the construction
of buildings in Metro Manila that are certified by the US Green Building
Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Go said this
will cater to companies that look for environmentally-friendly office space.
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