US, Singapore to support Manila

Manila bags US, Singapore support to turn capital into 'smart city'

Katrina Domingo
ABS-CBN News
08 August 2019

MANILA - The United States and Singapore sent envoys to Manila City Hall this week to offer their assistance in the capital’s modernization and development programs.

Singapore committed to share its technical expertise in traffic and sewage management, and digital governance with Manila, Singaporean Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Ho told reporters after his courtesy call on Mayor Isko Moreno, Thursday.

Singaporean Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Ho arrives at the Manila City Hall to pay a courtesy call on Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Thursday, August 8, 2019. (Manila PIO photo / MANILA BULLETIN)

Ho, who met with Moreno on the eve of Singapore’s 54th National Day, offered to fund a “study trip” to the city state where the Manila mayor could learn more about first-world policies and practices.

“We are ready to share. Ask us if you need any help. We have areas of expertise in traffic management, sewages, but you have to see what works for you because you cannot blindly apply,” Ho, the envoy of Southeast Asia’s richest nation, told Moreno during the meeting.

A similar offer was given to Jakarta before, he said.

"If you have done something before and it seems to work, and you want to be a good neighbor and friend to your region, isn’t it good to share these things to everyone?" he said.

US TO HELP DESIGN MANILA’S SMART CITY PLAN

Singapore’s commitment comes a day after officials from the US Embassy visited Moreno and offered to help the capital’s flood monitoring and prevention program.

"I was asked what I wanted to prioritize. Sabi ko, ‘Once and for all, please, study Manila geographically with regard to flooding problems," Moreno told reporters.

"So that once and for all, magkaroon ng drainage plans, catch basins and everything that will address the problem," he said.

US officials also backed Manila’s efforts to turn the capital into a “smart city,” Moreno’s chief of staff Cesar Chavez told ABS-CBN News.

“We were given options by the US Embassy Commercial Section if we want a total design for a smart city or a piece of it,” Moreno’s chief of staff Cesar Chavez told ABS-CBN News.

“Our inclination is to request for a total design... traffic, solid waste management, flooding, social services,” he said.

The city is also looking into a Manila Residents ID system, he said.

The design is expected to be completed in 4-6 months, while its approval would take an additional 3 months so implementation might happen next year, he said.

PRIVATE SECTOR OFFERS

Business tycoon and PLDT-Smart CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan earlier said his telecommunications company would provide closed-circuit television cameras for “all parts” of capital city.

PLDT-Smart would also help with the creation of Manila’s “operations center” on the city hall’s 4th level, he said.

Pangilinan also committed to fund the construction of a fountain near the city hall, Moreno said.

Manila: world's fastest growing luxury market

The world’s fastest growing luxury market is in the Philippines

Luxury prices in Manila shot up by 11.1 percent year-over-year

The Real Deal
10 March 2019

Welcome to Manila, capital of the Philippines and the fastest growing luxury market in the world.

Manila (Credit: Getty, Pixabay)

The city’s luxury sector saw an 11.1 percent price increase year over year, making it the fastest growing city among 100 global prime markets that Knight Frank tracks, according to Mansion Global. This increase is due to the country’s strong economy and low supply of luxury housing.

But Manila’s growth is much lower compared to top cities in prior years, Knight Frank’s head of international residential research Kate Everett-Allen told Mansion Global.

“In the past 12 years that we have been compiling the index, the top-performing market has yet to record annual growth below 21 percent,” she said. “This is a breakaway from the norm.”

The only other cities this year to show double-digit growth were Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich and Buenos Aires. Knight Frank’s overall prime international residential index rose by 1.3 percent in 2018, the lowest annual growth rate since 2012.

New York’s luxury market declined by 2.5 percent thanks to a strong U.S. dollar, a volatile stock market and an over-saturated luxury market. It was still the third most expensive city to buy a prime property, with $1 million getting buyers about 330 square feet.

Monaco was the most expensive city by this metric, with $1 million buying just 172 square feet of space. [Mansion Global] – Eddie Small

The new Hong Kong

Manila rising as the ‘new Hong Kong’ 

Othel V. Campos
Manila Standard
September 27, 2017 

Manila is rapidly rising as a megacity powered by a growing pool of high-value talent, real estate expansion and a robust consumption-driven economy, property advisor Santos Knight Frank said Wednesday.

“Manila today is the Hong Kong and Singapore of 30 years ago. The level of development in the metropolis over the last decade has been unprecedented and reflects on the accelerated expansion of the property market. Manila has since become an important hub for industries such as IT-BPO [information technology-business process outsourcing] with huge opportunities of growth for other sectors,” said Santos Knight Frank chairman and chief executive Rick Santos.

He said with a population of more than 25 million people, the Greater Manila Area now had more people than Hong Kong and Singapore combined.

Its demographic is a high-value asset in industries such as IT-BPO, where Metro Manila ranks as fourth in the world based on the 2017 Tholons Services Globalization (Outsourcing) Index. 

Santos Knight Frank chairman Rick Santos discusses the property consulting company’s latest findings on the future trends in real estate in the global cities around the world during a news briefing and launching of Santos Knight Frank’s Global Cities Report 2018 at Makati Shangri-la Hotel. Lino Santos

A fast-growing metropolis, Metro Manila’s property market remains robust vis-à-vis several Asian cities. Prime office rents grew between 5 percent and 6 percent annually from 2011.

Prime office rents in Metro Manila increased 3.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, outperforming Tokyo at 3.2 percent; Taipei, 2.8 percent; Beijing, -1.9 percent; Shanghai, -2 percent; Singapore, -5.1 percent; and Jakarta, -8.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila had one of the lowest vacancy rates at 3.4 percent across Asia Pacific in the second quarter.

“On a regional basis, the performance and fundamentals of the Manila office market look solid. While some of the other Southeast Asian markets are seeing demand remain sluggish and the major Chinese cities are seeing huge amounts of new supply, the Manila market has one of the tightest vacancy rates in the region and looks set for a strong 2018,” said Knight Frank Asia Pacific head of research Nicholas Holt.

The consulting firm said with a growing number of companies venturing onto the global stage, Metro Manila continued to see diversified demand, not only in the office market, but also in the residential sector, where investors from Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East were putting more capital into the Philippines.

“Over the next four years, Manila will see more than 3 million sqm of new office space added to the market. About 2 million sqm of residential space and half a million sqm more for retail will come online by 2019,” Santos said.

The government lined up 64 major infrastructure projects in the Philippines, several of which are underway in Metro Manila such as the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road, Naian Expressway Phase 2 and NLEx Harbor Link.

To decongest the metropolis and encourage development in the outskirts, important mass transport projects such as Mega Manila Subway, Manila-Clark Railway and expansion of the Light Rail Train are also in the pipeline.

“With limited supply of land in the city core, new districts have emerged in the outskirts of Metro Manila. The next wave of expansion is happening in emerging areas such as Alabang, Nuvali, Bulacan and Clark. It is crucial that infrastructure is in place to provide efficient connectivity between various parts of this growing city,” Santos said.