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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel Reporter
ALLIANCE Global Group Inc. (AGI)
announced on Wednesday it is set to
partner with an affiliate of the Genting Group, a Malaysian
conglomerate, to develop an integrated leisure and resort project
called the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Manila Bay Integrated City at the
reclamation area.
In a statement, AGI said it is
“finalizing plans” to enter into a $1-billion joint venture,
through unit Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., with Star
Cruises Ltd, the 3rd largest cruise operator in the world, for a
project that will host a variety of leisure and entertainment
facilities. The project will include a theme park, theaters,
amusement and cultural centers, retail and gaming centers and
hotels.
The leisure and resort project is
part of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s (Pagcor)
initiative to build an integrated tourism zone within the 40-hectare
project area. Pagcor expects the Manila Bay project to generate $4
billion in local and foreign investments and about 100,000 jobs upon
completion.
Last year, Pagcor’s profits
reached P27.8 billion, its highest in history.
Based on Travellers’
application to participate in the project, the AGI unit proposed to
build hotels with at least 1,000 rooms over several phases of
development.
“Our proposal comes at an
opportune time when there is increasing awareness of the Philippines
as a tourist destination, with the country achieving a milestone in
2007 with a record three million tourist arrivals for the first time
in its history. With the continued surge in tourist arrivals, we
expect [the] existing stock of hotel rooms to fall short of
demand,” Andrew Tan, AGI chairman, said.
Star Cruises had assets of almost
$7 billion last year and together with the Genting Group, is in the
leisure, hospitality, gaming, entertainment, cruise and
cruise-related, power and oil and gas exploration businesses. The
Genting Group has assets of $10 billion and is the largest
Asian-based leisure, entertainment and hospitality conglomerate with
almost 40 years of experience. Its flagship, Genting Highlands
Resort, is one of Asia’s leading integrated leisure and
entertainment resorts with hotel rooms of about 10,000 in a single
development.
The Malaysian group is building
an integrated resort called Resorts World that would cost $3.6
billion in a 49-hectare area in Sentosa Island, Singapore. It would
be open to the public two years from now and will include the first
Universal Studios in Southeast Asia, the world’s largest
Ocea-narium Marine Life Park, an arts and science museum, hotels
with a combined 1,800 rooms, retail and gaming center.
The Manila Bay project comes
after AGI announced that it would venture into the tourism industry
via large-scale resort developments within the next two years and
was scouting for possible areas for development around the country.
The group has a 15-hectare property in Mactan, Cebu that may be
developed into a leisure and resort destination.
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