Within the next five years, a new city will be built on top of the waters of Manila Bay, 3kms from the shoreline of the present Roxas Boulevard, itself once reclaimed land.
The project is called the Horizon Manila Bay City and will cost P120 billion to develop.
The developer is JBros Construction Corp., today, one of the Philippines’ largest, most progressive and fastest growing engineering and construction companies.
With the P387-billion value of its holdings in Horizon Manila Bay City, JBros has become arguably the most valuable construction company and property developer.
Values of reclaimed land along Manila Bay range today from a low of P285,000 to a high of P550,000 per square despite the pandemic-induced current economic slump. Along Manila’s Roxas Boulevard itself, land values have risen to as high as P700,000 per sqm. This P700,000 per sqm will be the minimum norm over the next five years along the bay area, with P1 million per sqm the likely average by 2025.
JBros Construction will reclaim 419 hectares, turning the brown and blue waters of Manila Bay, one of the best, historic, strategic and most beautiful harbors in the world, into prime land—for residential, entertainment, commercial, and business purposes.
World famous Manila Bay
Manila Bay is the site of the famous naval showdown between the United States and Spain wherein the US destroyed the once formidable Spanish armada. One of the most decisive naval battles in history, its May 1, 1998 victory established America as a Pacific and a colonial power and enabled it to seize the entire Philippine archipelago of 7,700 islands. Earlier in 1646, the Battle of La Naval de Manila thwarted a Dutch attempt to occupy the Philippines. Today, Manila Bay is “the ocean portal and Filipino epicenter for government, economy and industry,” says Wikipedia.
Horizon Manila Bay City is one of the largest, most visionary, and most strategic reclamation projects in the archipelago. The project will enhance the city of Manila’s reputation and prestige as the Pearl of the Orient.
Burnham designed Manila
At its beginnings, Manila was a well-planned city. Enthused the world-famous American architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham (Sept. 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912), who helped design old Manila and Baguio:
“Possessing the bay of Naples, the winding river of Paris, and the canals of Venice, Manila has before it and opportunity unique in history of modern times, the opportunity to create a united city equal to the greatest of the Western world with unparalleled and priceless addition of a tropical setting.”
Builder of many Chicago and New York skyscrapers, Burnham believed that “an improved urban environment could provide a positive transformative experience for its inhabitants.” He designed Washington DC using Paris and Rome as inspiration.
According to Britannica, “after the Spanish American War, Burnham was asked by the federal government to create a ‘Beautification Plan’ for Manila and to design an entirely new summer capital, Baguio, in the Luzon highlands. He responded by recommending the preservation of Manila’s old walled Spanish city, and in both cities he utilized familiar City Beautiful components: a system of parks, a network of diagonal roadways for traffic efficiency, and a civic centre complex, formally arranged as the heart of the community.”
Manila a global city
According to Wikipedia, “Manila, along with Mexico City and Madrid, has been considered to be one of the world’s earliest global cities, because its commercial networks were the first to extend across the Pacific Ocean and connect Asia with the Spanish Americas. When this was accomplished, it marked the first time in world history that an uninterrupted chain of trade routes circling the planet had been established.”
Meanwhile, the Magellan expedition of 1521 established the Philippines as a key global destination of the future and marked the first written contact between the West and the East. The 500th year of the circumnavigation of the world by Sebastian del Cano is being marked this year.
The best and biggest NCR business district
The 419 hectares will be Manila’s newest, best, most modern and biggest Central Business District, enabling the Philippines’ best known and premier city to reclaim its old glory and distinction as the Pearl of the Orient.
At 419 hectares, Horizon Manila Bay City will be 2.36x the size of the Ortigas Business District; 1.4x the size of the present Bonifacio Global City Taguig CBD; and slightly bigger than the 400-ha. Makati CBD. In other words, the Horizon Manila Bay City will be the biggest masterplanned business district of its kind in the Philippines.
Of the four reclamation projects approved by the city of Manila, the 419-hectare Horizon Manila Bay City has the most complete plans and paperwork and the most advanced planning and development. It is also the biggest of the four and quite naturally, is now the city’s centerpiece and legacy project.
All permits issued
JBros has secured all the required permits and approvals.
The reclaimed business, residential and entertainment district will be connected to Manila and Makati by two iconic viaducts, each costing P7 billion to build. The design of the viaducts will rival that of San Francisco’s Golden Gate and New York’s Brooklyn Bridge, curving gracefully like pathways to paradise.
Estimated cost of the JBros reclamation (including dredging, roads, utilities, and bridges) is P120 billion. That in turn will generate projects in terms of vertical con- struction projects (like office buildings, con- dominiums, shopping malls and terminals) of between P1.5 trillion and P2.8 trillion.
According to JBros President and CEO, engineer JR Legaspi, “the P120-billion Project cost is inclusive of the reclamation works, horizontal development, and viaduct.
It’s a very viable project. We expect to generate P1.5 trillion in revenues in less than 10 years from the total sale- able area.”
Of the 419 hectares, the saleable area is 205 hectares. Of that, the city of Manila will get 35.2 hectares, while the Philippine Reclamation Authority will get 52.8 hectares.
World-class reclamation companies
The 153-year-old Van Oord N. V. group of Netherlands will do the reclamation for JBros Construction. In 2019, Van Oord had revenues of €1.6 billion with 207 projects in 44 countries and 68 vessels. One of its dredgers is already in Manila Bay waiting for orders.
When it comes the construction of artificial islands, Van Oord is a market- leading specialist, the company claims at its website.
“It’s jewel in the crown is undoubtedly the artificial palm-shaped island in Dubai, Palm Jumeirah. A recognized world landmark, this remarkable, world-renowned megaproject was the first showpiece in Dubai. Since completion in 2003, we have continued to be a crucial partner for land reclamation in this region, successfully building an impressive array of artificial islands,” says the company.
Van Oord’s home base, The Netherlands, is a country built on waters and reclaimed land.
Jan de Nul makes an offer
The 172-year-old rival Belgium Jan de Nul group also wants to do the project. Jan de Nul is legendary for its dredging and reclamation projects worldwide with ˇ2 billion in annual revenues. It is famous for reclaiming Hong Kong airport’s Chep Lak Kok, the biggest dredging contract of the century, and the Palm Islands of Dubai.
Assuming it takes P2 million to create one job, P2.8-trillion investments in Horizon Manila Bay City could create 1.4 million jobs. On the other hand, the low-end estimated investment of P1.4 trillion could still create 700,000 jobs.
Those estimates could be conservative. Housing and construction have a multiplier effect of 14 times. So a P100-billion project generates revenues in ancillary services and businesses worth P1.4 trillion.
Assures JBros CEO JR Legaspi: “There will be over 500 developable lots within Horizon Manila Bay City. We expect to create 400,000 jobs in this single project. Most of those jobs will, of course, go to the people of Manila.”
Adds the boyish-looking JR: “We combine the wisdom of experience and the dynamism of youth. This in turn enables us to innovate, to embrace leading-edge technology, and to incorporate in our projects aspects of sustainability, care for the environment, care for our customers, and that we are in this land to leave it in a much better shape than when we came. The Horizon Manila Bay City will be our legacy, Manila’s legacy, and indeed, the country’s legacy.”
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