GSIS eyes venture to build housing for its employees

MANILA, Philippines - The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) plans to establish a venture with the National Housing Authority (NHA) to develop a Quezon City property for the pension fund’s employees. Worth P3 billion, the venture between both state-led agencies will develop a 60 hectare property along Commonwealth Avenue, considered as one of the widest thoroughfares in Quezon City. Once in place, the joint venture is expected to purchase the property from the NHA at P3,000 per square meter. The acquired lots will be sold off by GSIS to its employees. For its part, the housing body will then build low cost houses, benefiting some 3,600 pension fund workers. GSIS will also shoulder costs for the housing development, Garcia said. The project “is immediately executable," GSIS president and general manager Winston F. Garcia said, citing a discussion he had with Vice President Noli L. de Castro. De Castro is the government’s housing czar, being the chair of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC). GSIS decided to change gears after it abandoned a previous strategy to bid for the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co., the local unit of American International Group (AIG). GSIS will proceed with plans to purchase Food Terminals Inc. (FTI), a 120-hectare property which the government intends to sell before the third quarter of this year, Garcia said. The pension fund offered P6 billion for the property, less than half of its asking price of P15 billion. - GMANews.TV