Property development projects sprout in Albay

MANILA, Philippines – Property development projects have sprouted in Albay, especially around the P3.07- billion Bicol International Airport, now under construction, due to the province’s disaster risk program.

Local officials said the development could usher in a real estate boom, especially in the airport vicinity and Legazpi City, in the next few years, with property prices leaping up 10-fold from their original P50 per square meter value.

The development in the area, known as the Guicadale Economic Platform, is impressive, said economist and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.

Private investors in the Guicadale Economic Platform now help integrate Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) into public investment programs, Salceda said.

He said Jaucian Village, a large residential subdivision in Daraga, for example, reported near 100 percent take up, with locators leaping by 74 percent.

Bicol College, one of Albay’s growing educational institutions, is also set to establish its new campus in Anislag, once a lowly upland barangay but now a populous one.

The Guicadale area is strategically situated in the towns of Guinobatan, Camalig, and Daraga and Legazpi City.

Salceda said these developments “are most welcome as they enable the province to build safer areas for habitation and business away from the Mayon Volcano lahar zone and flash flood-prone areas.”

“Without private sector participation, the government will spend at least P14 billion for the Mayon refugees’ relocation to safer areas. There is also the added benefit of the spatial integration of the markets and economies of Sorsogon and Albay,” he said.