Monday, July 14, 2008 Ayala center project expects to get Council's nod By Ben O. Tesiorna
THE P3 billion Ayala Center Davao business park and mall project is expected to be approved by the City Council Tuesday, thus becoming the biggest single investment in decades in the country's most competitive metropolitan.
The multi-billion project is a joint venture of Ayala Land Inc. and Anflocor Investment and Development Company Inc. and its sister companies under the umbrella of the Anflocor group of companies.
The Ayala Center Davao would stand on a nine-hectare property owned by the Floirendos, along business district Bajada in J.P. Laurel Avenue in front of the Redemptorist Church.
The City Council would tackle in regular session on Tuesday the application by Anflocor senior vice president Ricardo Floirendo to reclassify into major commercial zone portions of the property declared as residential zone in the 1996 Zoning Code.
Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, chair of the housing committee, has recommended approval of the application, on strength of recommendations by the City Planning and Development Office and the City Zoning division.
Floor leader Danilo Dayanghirang said last week that he would take the lead in lobbying for the approval of the application. He set the application into the agenda of Tuesday's session, saying the project submitted all requirements.
He described the project as the "kind of business that we should fully support".
Both Cabling and Dayanghirang agree Ayala Center Davao is the strongest expression by business of their full trust and confidence in the viability of Davao City as an investment haven under the leadership of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Mayor Duterte also gave his all-out support for the project during the launch of the joint venture attended by Anflocor and Ayala Malls Group officials during the recent anniversary celebration of Anflocor in Davao City.
The multi-billion peso business park and mall complex project will start construction this year, with its first component the IT/BPO building set to be operational next year.
The centerpiece of the mega-project, the Ayala Center Davao, the 11th by the Makati-based Ayala Land throughout the country, would be completed before end of 2010. (With Press release)
