THE MANILA TIMES. 29TH MARCH: In the interest of helping address the lack of affordable housing options in the country, Malaysian conglomerate Synergy International Group of Companies — through its property development division, Synergy International Realtors Sdn. Bhd. — joined Philippine company Aquira Land Development Corp. (ALDC) as co-developer of an ongoing 57-hectare,
low-cost housing project in the municipality of Mexico in Pampanga that was projected to have 6,150 units.
“It has always been our goal to enter property development in the Philippines. It is only fitting to start off with a project that has a social aspect and that aims to offer decent but affordable housing to a long-underserved market,” Synergy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vijay Kumar said at the formal signing of the memorandum of agreement (MoA).
The project was in line with a government initiative to build 1 million new, socialized and low-cost houses before the end of 2023.
“The participation of Synergy will allow us to deliver livable units in the shortest amount of time,” ALDC President and CEO Erick Armigos shared.
“Our objective has always been to be involved in as many low-cost and socialized housing projects as we can, and to build and deliver as many livable units as quickly as we can,” Armigos added.
“It is our aim that this be just one of many projects we will undertake in the Philippines in the years to come,” Kumar explained.
“With the country’s current backlog, we hope to build many more affordable livable homes in the Philippines,” Kumar added.
“Malaysia has a large contingent of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). A big reason we chose this particular project is to give these workers more housing options when they come home to retire,” Kumar concluded.
Joining Armigos and Kumar at the MoA signing was Synergy Philippines Managing Director Esa Huovila.
Meanwhile, at the construction site, clearing operations for the project were underway and would be followed immediately by the construction of the main gate, the guardhouse and the model units.