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Ayala develops green village under GE tie-up

By Earl Paolo Jaculbe

04/23/2008

Dominant property firm Ayala Land and US conglomerate General Electric (GE) signed an agreement yesterday to jointly develop a sprawling environment-friendly community in Laguna.

The partnership aims to promote so-called “green homes and commercial buildings” in a 1,700-hectare property.

Ayala Land said it would promote energy-efficient GE products from lighting fixtures and water process technologies to advanced building designs and real-time energy management systems.

Ayala Land president and chief executive Jaime Ayala said the firm was expected to post higher growth in the three months to March this year, compared to last year.

Ayala Land posted a net profit of P1.29 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

The agreement was signed among Ayala and Colin Low, GE president for Philippines, Singapore and Cambodia.

GE will employ the so-called ecomagination initiative for the project, Low said.

Launched in 2005, ecomagination seeks to harness GE products and services to address the world’s pressing environmental issues.

Low said the agreement strengthens GE’s ecomagination initiative in the Philippines. He added the partnership with Ayala Land will contribute significantly to the preservation of the environment.

“There couldn’t have been a better time to launch this partnership than today when we celebrate Earth Day,” Low added.

Ayala said the project will be called Nuvali, which is a collaboration between Ayala Land and the Yulo family.

The project seeks to transform the 1,700-hectare property in Laguna into the first sustainably developed ecopolis in the Philippines where people and nature can thrive.

“The road to Nuvali began with a concept for a large-scale and pioneering ecopolis that would serve as a regional hub of the south,” Ayala said.

The concept for Nuvali builds on the company’s collective experience over many decades in Makati, Alabang, Bonifacio Global City and the Cebu Business Park, he said.

“This partnership which we are proudly forging with GE today is a concrete first step in the realization of our vision in Nuvali,” Ayala added.