■ CEBU LANDMASTERS INC. HOPES TO SEE PROGRESS IN ITS MINGLANILLA PROJECT

Ming Mori Development Corp. chairman Jose Soberano III is hopeful the permits will be released for the planned 100-hectare industrial park development in the southern Cebu municipality of Minglanilla

The construction of the 100-hectare Minglanilla industrial park development was stalled due to delays in environmental permits. The reclamation project will host an industrial park for light manufacturing industries, some mixed-developments for commercial complexes, and business centers. Joe Soberano III, president of publicly-listed Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), said they’ve been waiting for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to issue an Environmental Compliance Certificate for the undertaking. The industrial park development is a public-private partnership venture between the municipality of Minglanilla, Philippine Reclamation Authority, and Ming-Mori Development Corp., a consortium of Cebuano businesses, including CLI.

Publicly-listed Cebu Landmasters Inc. is hoping to see progress in the 100-hectare Minglanilla industrial park development, construction of which was stalled by delays in environmental permits.

The reclamation project will host an industrial park for light manufacturing industries, some mixed-use developments for commercial complexes, and business centers.

The project is projected to employ at least 75,000 workers once it becomes operational.

CLI president Joe Soberano III told reporters they’ve been waiting for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to issue an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the undertaking.

“We’ve been waiting for it for a long time,” said Soberano. “We hope to get all the permits so we could start moving. We are told that this administration is still very much supportive of reclamation projects.”

The industrial park development is a public-private partnership venture between the municipality of Minglanilla, Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), and Ming-Mori Development Corp., (MMDC), a consortium of Cebuano businesses, including CLI. Soberano is the chairman of the MMDC.

The construction of the industrial park will be done in five phases which will be completed in five years.

Meanwhile, CLI is bullish about growing its estate portfolio this year. It recently inked partnerships for the development of a business district and a university township both located in Davao.

In Cebu, the company is eyeing to build two estate projects.

CLI said it sold P2.7 billion worth of projects in the Visayas and Mindanao for the first quarter this year, which represent 38 percent of the full-year target of P7 billion.

Its landbank has expanded to 1,031,509 square meters, or 64 percent more than at the start of the company’s initial public offering this time last year.

During the annual stockholders’ meeting, CLI also assured investors that it continues to enhance shareholder value.

It applied for corporate notes issuance at P5 billion to fund this year’s capital expenditure (capex) of at least P8.8 billion.

This year’s capex is almost twice the P4.8 billion the company spent in 2017.

The corporate note issuance was given an Aa rating by debt watcher Philippine Ratings Services Corp., the second highest level in its credit rating scale.

It tapped BPI Capital as the lead underwriter and BDO Capital as joint underwriter.

In 2017, CLI’s net income surged 66 percent to P1.294 billion, as revenues likewise climbed by 66 percent to P3.929 billion.