Alsons Properties, the real estate arm of the Alcantara Group’s Alsons Development and Investment Corp. (Alsons Dev), recently launched a socialized housing project in Sarangani province, its first residential venture outside Davao City.
In a talk with the Manila Standard, Tomas Alcantara, president and chairman of Alsons Consolidated Resources (ACR), said the eight-hectare Molave Homes, located in Alabel beside the Sarangani provincial capitol, “is a response to the call of the local market for affordable homes.”
The Alcantara Group has three other subsidiaries operating in Sarangani, namely: Sarangani Agricultural Co. Inc., an exporter of aquaculture products; Sarangani Energy Corp., which has a 210-megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant; and Southern Philippines Power Corp. with 55-MW diesel-fired facility.
Alsons Dev presented last week the Molave Homes model unit, which has a 27- square meter (sq m) floor area within an 80-sq m lot.
Alsons Dev vice-president and general manager Eric D. Dela Costa, said the project is directed at the “underserved sector of minimum wage earners and informal business owners.”
He added that the model house intends “to show that even a small house can be shaped into a beautiful and comfortable living space… to demonstrate the efficient use of space.”
Dela Costa said Alsons Dev, which has been into property development for about 50 years, has been looking at new areas to expand its portfolio.
In Davao City, the company has several on-going residential projects, among them the Northcrest and Northtown, both targeted at the high-end market. It has five existing developments, including the Ladislawa Garden Village, considered as the most high-end subdivision in the city.
Alabel, Sarangani is about 175 kilometers from Davao City.
Former Sarangani Governor Miguel Dominguez told Manila Sandard that the project is an initiative of the provincial government “to reduce the housing backlog.”
“It is a model housing projects that the provincial government can be proud of,” the ex-governor said.