Chinese firm to put up $200-M retirement facility near SM MOA

Chinese firm Sunshine Corp. plans to put up a $200-million retirement facility near the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) to cater to Chinese retirees.

In an interview, Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) chairman retired Gen. Edgardo Aglipay said the firm is planning on building a condotel that will be marketed to retirees from China.

“They are actually saying that the condotel will be sold out even before they could start building it,” he said.

Aglipay said the firm has already signed a memorandum of agreement with the SM Group for the project.

Construction is set to begin in August. The 1,000 room project will be completed in three years’ time.

Aside from Sunshine Corp., Aglipay said two other companies have signed MOAs with the PRA for the construction of retirement facilities. One, a Korean firm, will be constructing a 550-room condotel in Cebu.

Meanwhile, PRA said it is eyeing to double the number of foreign retirees it attracted last year by investing heavily on retirement villages.

Aglipay said they would invite 6,000 foreign retirees this year. In 2007, retirees residing in the country numbered 2,620.

“We want to attract at least 3,500 but our target is 6,000 or more,” Aglipay noted.

The enrolment of 2,620 principal retirees and dependents is expected to generate 10,480 jobs based on a conservative estimate of four workers per principal retiree.

Koreans make up 60 percent of the retirees, followed by the Chinese and the Americans.

In terms of income, Aglipay said they are targeting to increase their P90.17 million income by 25 percent this year.

Gross income for the year amounted to P264.94 million.