CEBU CITY–Cebu could look forward to more investments in its retail sector as SM Prime Holdings disclosed plans to build another shopping center here.

In an interview, SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said the company was planning to build one or two additional shopping centers in Cebu.

‘We are bullish about Cebu,’ Sy said.

SM Prime spends at least P1 billion to build just one shopping center, Sy said.

Sy was in Cebu Friday to attend the inauguration of the five roads around the SM City Cebu that were repaired and improved out of the taxes advanced by the mall to the Cebu City government, and the unveiling of a large billboard depicting the mall expansion called The Northwing.

‘Definitely, we’re looking into a second and third location for a shopping center here in Cebu. We believe that Cebu is an area that we could still expand,’ Sy said.

While the company is interested in the South Road Properties (SRP), Cebu City’s south reclamation project, SM Prime is also looking at other areas, he pointed out.

‘It’s still early (to say) but if the numbers are right we definitely will go into (putting up a shopping center in the SRP),’ Sy said.

The price of the land and the Cebu City government’s development plan would be among the basis for choosing the SRP as a shopping center site, he explained.

He said the additional malls would be in the 60,000 to 75,000 sq.m. size similar to the SM Supercenters.