MINERVA BC NEWMAN
CEBU CITY—The Cebu Landmaster Inc. (CLI), the leading developer in the VisMin area reported a sustained construction operation, maintained its communication with customer and brokers and has exceeded its reservation sales in 2020 even amid the pandemic, and prepares for wider developments for 2021.
“2020 has been a defining year for CLI as we even outperformed amid the pandemic and we hope to rebound and abound for 2021,” CLI chairman and CEO Jose Soberano III said in a virtual CLI annual stockholders’ meeting and press conference Thursday, May 27 in Cebu with more than 50 stockholders in attendance.
Soberano went on that CLI sees the start of wide development projects in 2021 that include the Techno Biz Hub Reclamation project in Minglanilla in the 4th quarter; launching of Abaca Hotel project in Mactan in the 3rd quarter and condo projects in Mactan and few other acquisitions to be developed in 2021 and beyond.
The signing of the memorandum of agreement of the Techno Biz Hub in Minglanilla, that was originally scheduled in April this year with the LGU and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) has been reset on June 11 due to the spike of COVID number in Manila, Soberano bared.
The MOA contains the details of the programming, sharing scheme, timeline, others. “Once we have the notice to proceed, we are excited of the project. This is a 100-hectare development with a cost of more than P10B,” he added.
Soberano said that this project is good alternative for the industrial and economic zones that will create the needed economic activities in Cebu and a real addition to the development landscape of CLI.
According to CLI chief operating officer Franco Soberano that CLI didn’t downsize operations in 2020 but managed to maintain the organic people, beefed-up the workforce and it even add more contractors for its various projects in the VisMin regions that allowed CLI to post a consolidated net income of P714M for the first quarter of 2021, a 12 percent growth from last year’s net income.
“There are still many cities and municipalities in the VisMin regions to fill the housing development backlogs. We can only provide 2,000 units per year out of the demand/needs of 8,000 units per year,” Soberano stated.
He said that sustaining this momentum is the key to seize the opportunity to fill in the development backlogs. To go beyond where CLI now is to step further. The company is very confident to widen its operations in the VisMin because there is still a lot of housing demand in the area.
According to CLI chairman Jose Soberano III that CLI aims to buck industry trends once again in 2021 with 25 projects in the pipeline–15 of which target the economic and mid-market residential segments in the region and are collectively valued at Php 19 Billion.
As to the question of expanding its development operations nationwide, the Soberanos said that it is for the next generation to respond to the challenge. “We are always improving, and market share has never been our animated goal but, are we able to deliver the best market with satisfied customers,” he added.
