SM Prime to complete land portion of Pasay reclamation project next year

MANILA, Philippines —  SM Prime Holdings Inc., the listed integrated property developer of the Sy family, targets to complete by next year the land portion of its reclamation project in Pasay.

“We hope to be able to deliver this project on time. Our timetable right now is that we should see the completion of the land by end of next year, hopefully,” SM Engineering Design & Development Corp. president Hans Sy Jr. said on the sidelines of the 30th National Retail Conference and Expo.

“That’s just land so you won’t see roads yet. You might see some roads but it’s basically just the base property only. Right now what you can see over there is about 100 hectares,” he said.

Called SM Smart City, the project is a 360-hectare development that SM Prime is undertaking with the local government unit (LGU) of Pasay.

“And then after the completion of the land we still have some infrastructure work that needs to be done, the roads, the utilities and the piping. What most people don’t realize with reclamation works is that just putting the sand is just literally the tip of the iceberg,” Sy said.

“The real hardship will come from all the planning that comes afterwards. The electrical planning, the water utilities, the waste, how do you handle the transport and how do you handle traffic. All these things have to be really considered,” he said.

SM Smart City is envisioned to be a mixed-use development similar to the success of the Mall of Asia (MOA) reclamation project.

The reclamation project will be connected to the MOA complex and turned into a vibrant business district featuring world-class mall, offices, residences, entertainment arena, five-star hotel and convention center.

It is part of SM Prime’s commitment to its role as a catalyst for economic growth by delivering innovative and sustainable lifestyle cities that enrich the quality of life of millions of people.

“The vision for that project for us is to leverage everything that we’ve learned with the 60 hectares that we have in the MOA complex. We hope to be able to leverage on all the things that we have learned in the last 20 years into a bigger and better project,” Sy said.

“What we offer to the public is that with what we’ve done with 60 hectares, we’d love for you to see what we can try to deliver for something that is twice the size of BGC,” he said.

SM Prime is committed to deliver the project to the Pasay LGU by 2028. The company officially received from the city of Pasay the notice to proceed for the reclamation project in 2019.

As the city’s joint venture partner, SM Prime will develop the actual raw land reclamation and horizontal development works.

SM Prime executive committee chairman Hans Sy said the budget for the reclamation itself is almost P150 billion.

“That’s only the land component. The other development we don’t have the budget yet,” he said.

One the reclamation is fully completed, Sy said the company will be tapping partners for actual development.

“We will do the whole reclamation, after which when we start dividing the land, that’s when the joint venture comes in. We will invite some other developers to join with us and then do the development,” Sy said.

“It’s not something that we will just do it by ourselves. As I’ve been pushing, the future of businesses is collaborations. We cannot do it by ourselves anymore, it has to be in collaboration with a lot of other developers,” Sy said.