GMA, Noli inaugurate middle-income condo

President Arroyo and Vice President Noli De Castro led yesterday the inauguration and turnover of residential units of the 30-story Global Asiatique (GA) Tower 1 condominium in Mandaluyong City to middle-income owners.

The 648-unit high-rise along EDSA is a joint project of developer Globe Asiatique and the Pag-IBIG Fund under the latter’s Medium High Rise Building Program (MHRBP).

The GA Tower 1 is the first half of the twin condominium project, which aims to provide affordable condominium units in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized cities.

The project will allow middle-income earners to own a condominium-style unit at affordable prices, ranging from P1.5 million to P2 million.

Upon her arrival at the GA Tower 1, the President led the other guests in the symbolic ribbon cutting ceremony formalizing the opening of the housing project. She also participated in the symbolic turnover of the keys to the first 50 owners of the units.

The President was joined by De Castro, who is also Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman, Mandaluyong Rep. Benjamin Abalos Jr., Mandaluyong City Mayor Neptali Gonzales II, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor and GA Realty Holdings Corp. president Delfin Lee.

"Many of our middle income earners are still dreaming of owning a home, especially those working in Metro Manila and other cities, where affordable housing is scarce," De Castro said. "The MHRBP projects give them a viable alternative to buying homes in areas which are too far away from their places of work."

He also expressed optimism that the success of the GA Tower 1 and similar projects "will mean continued development in middle-class housing, which is part of our efforts to address the housing problem at all levels."

Mrs. Arroyo launched the MHRBP to spur the construction of affordable condominium projects and create a ready inventory of in-city housing units to Pag-IBIG members in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized cities.

The program provides a liquidity mechanism to private developers that effectively increases their production capacity and cuts down their financing costs through a faster turnaround of their investments.

The liquidity mechanism also simplifies and facilitates the processing of end-user loans of Pag-IBIG members who wish to buy the condominium units.

During the inauguration, the President also participated in the symbolic turnover of the keys to the first 50 owners of the condo units. She was assisted by De Castro, Abalos, Defensor, Lee and Pag-IBIG president and chief executive officer Romero Quimbo.

In a brief speech, the President also announced that she ordered the allocation of P1 billion for housing projects for families to be displaced in the North Rail and South Rail projects.