Megaworld first vice president Francis Canuto said, under the masterplan drawn up by the firm, the first parcel of land will be redeveloped into a modern educational complex comprising six school buildings specially equipped with an English language proficiency center.

The school buildings will be complemented by a housing project with a total of 414 residential units intended by the city government for public school teachers and other non-teaching personnel.

"The educational complex is primarily designed to provide an environment conducive to learning," said Canuto adding that it will also host retail space intended for various providers of food and school supplies in addition to sports facilities and parks and playgrounds.

On the other hand, the second parcel of land will give rise to a self-contained residential community called Cityplace which will have 1,700 residential condominium units, a shopping center with BPO-ready office space and a boutique hotel for business travellers.

The hotel, along with a centrepiece promenade which is accessible to residents and open to the public, is envisioned to help establish the Binondo Chinatown as an important tourist destination.

Canuto said "the Cityplace project will pay tribute to Binondo Chinatown as a melting pot of Malay, Spanish and Chinese influences."

"Megaworld is proud to undertake this urban renewal project in the heart of Binondo Chinatown as it is the largest real estate development in Manila in the last 25 years," said Megaworld chairman and president Andrew Tan.

He added that Cityplace is Megaworld’s way of helping preserve and enhance the rich history of Binondo Chinatown and its multiracial and multicultural heritage.

"Our plans for this themed development include creating new green parks for the benefit of people living and working in Binondo, constructing a public parking facility and building new by-pass roads and pedestrian overpasses to make the project environment and pedestrianfriendly," Tan said.

He noted that Megaworld has already pioneered in urban renewal and redevelopment in Metro Manila’s key cities such as Makati, Quezon City and Mandaluyong City and they intend to put this experience to work to energize Binondo Chinatown.

Tan said they will take Binondo Chinatown to the next level as Manila’s premier growth center.(JAL)