San Miguel Properties Inc., the real estate arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., plans to build 1,000 hotels rooms in Caticlan, Malay, Aklan, which serves as the gateway to the resort island of Boracay.
San Miguel president Ramon Ang said in an interview SMPI was expected to complete the first 500 hotel rooms by 2019 and the next 500 rooms by 2020.
He said the completion of the hotel rooms was in anticipation of the increased tourist arrivals in Boracay, once the expansion of the Caticlan Airport was finished. San Miguel operates Boracay Airport in Caticlan.
Ang said the hotels would offer overnight rates of around P2,000 which would be more affordable than hotel charges in Boracay Island.
The planned hotel venture will also complement San Miguel’s planned P3-billion bridge project connecting Boracay Island to Caticlan. Under the plan, the 1.5-kilometer bridge will be used to transport tourists from Caticalan to Boracay.
Ang said the construction of a bridge could also resolve the garbage and sewage problems on the island and could be used as a safe way to deliver wastewater out of Boracay via pipes, which would be integrated into the bridge design. Maintenance and repair will also be easier to manage, he said.
Ang said this would also resolve the garbage disposal issue, as daily refuse could be easily transported out of the island, removing the need to put up a dumpsite.
“This will avoid a cleanup of Boracay every three years,” Ang said.
He said San Miguel also planned to build a wastewater treatment plant in Caticlan.
“We will submit this proposal to the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. I think they will act on its quickly,” Ang said.
Boracay was closed to tourists for six months to allow the government to clean up the whole island.