Philippines' Megaworld, Travellers invest more in Manila casino, township project

Published Mon, Nov 2, 2015 · 06:03 AM

[MANILA] Philippine property firm Megaworld Corp said on Monday it will spend around US$300 million to build the residential portion of a 31-hectare casino and township project in Manila's version of the Las Vegas gaming strip.

Megaworld's investment will bring to US$1.4 billion the total budget for Westside City project being developed by Travellers International Hotel Group Inc, a joint venture between Philippines' Alliance Global Group Inc and Genting Hong Kong Ltd.

Travellers is one of the four companies licensed by the government to build integrated casino-resorts in the Entertainment City gaming complex. All of them are tapping into non-gaming revenue sources to offset the dearth of high rollers due to China's corruption crackdown.

The Westside City casino and township project, which includes upscale residential apartments, a luxury mall and 1,500 international hotel rooms, will be completed in the last quarter of 2020, Megaworld said in a disclosure.

Megaworld already launched two residential projects composed of nine towers totalling 1,236 apartments, said Harold Geronimo, communications head of Megaworld.

The Philippines is playing catch up with neighbours as its gaming revenue of US$2.5 billion last year was dwarfed by Macau's US$45.2 billion and Singapore's US$7 billion.

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