Pinoy Update: Ang Bagong Nayon Pilipino (Pagcor City) Manila bay City

PAGCOR's Bagong Nayon Pilipino Entertainment City
To The Point
Emil Jurado
Another project under the Arroyo administration—Pagcor’s Bagong Nayong Pilipino Entertainment City Manila in Bay City, the 120-hectare Roxas Boulevard reclamation—will be up in two years or so. It is Pagcor’s answer to the $98 billion global gaming and entertainment industry in Asia, now being monopolized by Macau, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia. To get a slice of the pie is more than the dream of Pagcor’s chairman and chief executive Ephraim Genuino, who conceptualized the project.

The project, whose terms of reference have already been finalized after Asian, American and European gaming and entertainment giants showed keen interest, could cost from $10 billion to $15 billion.

More than a venue for world-class gaming and entertainment, Genuino’s brainchild will have theme parks, luxury hotels, residential villages, convention and sports centers, shopping malls, golf course, a hospital district, state-of-the-art theaters, race tracks, gaming centers, waste management facility, marina and a boardwalk, a cultural center and of course, the Bagong Nayong Pilipino for tourists.

This is a project I can support because gaming and entertainment is now the name of the game in fueling tourism. This has been observed in Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. I still believe that tourism is the country’s engine of growth.

The project aims to provide more than 200,000 jobs and boost related industries and businesses, like hotel and hospitality.

Pagcor now is the third biggest revenue-generating state-owned entity. With this project, Pagcor could well be the biggest income generator for government.