Private sector in mass housing takes cue from Vice President
BusinessWorld Online
By Roy Stephen C. Canivel
August 16, 2016
“The concept is to look for properties which are occupied by informal settler families and to look for a way by which you can divide the property so that segment of it is used to create better housing for the informal settler families, but at the same time you free up the other portion of the property so it could be available for commercial development,” Mr. del Rosario said in an interview at the sidelines of a business forum last week.
“So that’s the formula we would like to do more of, and we have been recognized by Vice-President Robredo for that activity and she has told us she would like to replicate that kind of model all over the Philippines.”
Mr. del Rosario cited two existing in-city mass housing projects in Quezon City and Bacoor City, called Bisketville II and Strikeville IV, respectively.
The projects were co-developed by Property Holdings Corp., a subsidiary of PHINMA Corp., and the Pag-IBIG Fund, local government units (LGUs) and non-government organizations (NGOs).
“Those are both in-city. That’s one of the attraction of those projects. One is in Quezon City, the other is in Bacoor, and it’s really quite attractive because it’s near the place of work of the people living in it,” he added.
Ms. Robredo, who is also chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC), was quoted in earlier reports as saying she favored an area for relocation within the city or close to the source of livelihood.
Asked what the government needs to do in order to replicate the projects on a national scale, Mr. del Rosario cited the importance of LGU support.
For the private sector’s part, Mr. del Rosario said the model could be beneficial for housing developers as well, especially those who are “interested in going in socialized housing where the margins are probably smaller but adequate, I think, for developers that are satisfied with reasonable returns.”
“But you can have other projects…. You can expand the project. And if the project becomes replicated all over, then it becomes something worth our while,” he added.
Meanwhile, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) will hold a forum today at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City to tap the input of key members from the public and private sectors in drafting a road map addressing the housing backlog.