CITYMALLS will soon host passport processing activities of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), according to parent company DoubleDragon Properties Corp.
In a statement, CityMalls Commercial Centers, Inc. said it signed on Tuesday a memorandum of agreement with the DFA to hold Passport on Wheels activities in CityMalls around the country.
“We are glad to be working with important government agencies, like the DFA among others, to make the lives of Filipinos better by helping them in cascading their services with efficiency and convenience. These kinds of initiatives are aligned with the government’s thrust to make the Philippine economy more inclusive and help improve the lives of the people, especially in the far away provincial areas,” DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar “Injap” J. Sia II was quoted as saying in a statement.
CityMalls operates a chain of community malls around the country.
“Quarter per quarter, the roots of the chain of CityMalls continue to strengthen its grip in each and every provincial community in the Philippines… The CityMall platform is set to capture the inevitable ongoing shift from traditional to modern retail in the countryside… The CityMalls are expected to become the new town plazas as they become the new venue of relevant activities of the local community,” Mr. Sia said.
By 2020, DoubleDragon is aiming to have a leasable portfolio of 1.2 million square meters (sq.m.), including 700,000 sq.m. from 100 CityMalls, 300,000 sq.m. from its Metro Manila office projects DD Meridian Park and Jollibee Tower, 100,000 sq.m. from the pipeline of 5,000 hotel rooms of Hotel101 and Jinjiang Inn Philippines, and another 100,000 sq.m. from various CentralHub sites.
DoubleDragon reported a 240% rise in attributable net income to P750.17 million in the second quarter, driven by rising rental revenues from office towers, community malls and warehouse hubs.
For the first half, DoubleDragon’s attributable income doubled to P1.51 billion from P745 million during the same period a year ago.
