SM Cebu to expand mall, build school, BPO towers
More employment and educational opportunities await Cebuanos as a mall expansion in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City will include business process outsourcing (BPO) facilities and a university.
More employment and educational opportunities await Cebuanos as a mall expansion in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City will include business process outsourcing (BPO) facilities and a university.
Project head Aris Angeles told SunStar Cebu Thursday, July 21, 2022, that the expansion of SM City Cebu is targeted to begin in August after all necessary permits will be granted.
Angeles said aside from the shopping mall expansion, the project will also include the development of a new parking area located in the establishment’s north wing.
A campus of the Manila-based school National University (NU) will be constructed above this new parking area, with the university to occupy levels six to nine of a new nine-story building that will have a roof deck.
Aside from this, Angeles said two towers will also be built that can be used as workplaces for the city’s booming BPO industry. The offices for the BPO towers will be from levels six to 20, with the bottom five levels set aside for parking.
Billions of pesos
Angeles said he could not divulge just yet the total cost of the project, but he said the company was pouring billions of pesos into the development.
The construction of the project is expected to generate jobs, especially for construction workers, said Angeles.
According to Angeles, the school will be turned over a year after the start of the construction since NU will open its doors to students by the start of the school year in 2025.
The mall and parking area expansion are scheduled to be completed before the end of 2023, while the two BPO towers will be constructed one after the other, he said.
Angeles added that they have now installed a fence around the construction area for the safety of the public and some building materials have already been delivered to the site.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources conducted a public hearing as a requirement before the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the project.
Angeles said that during the public hearing, no concerns were raised by the stakeholders of the projects which include barangay officials and residents.
The ECC is one of the documents needed to be secured for the project to proceed.
Angeles said they are in the middle of processing business permits and other government-mandated requirements.