MANILA, Philippines – Leading mall developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SM Prime) said it is expanding its shopping mall in Bacolod City.

SM Bacolod will undergo a two-phase expansion, which will start this year and last up to 2014.

The SM City Bacolod Annex will add 102,043 square meters of gross floor area to the main mall, which brings the entire mall’s GFA to 171,380 square meters.

SM Prime set aside P1.4 billion for the construction of the Annex, located at Rizal Street in the reclamation area in Bacolod.

The company said the expansion of the mall is expected to provide 2,000 jobs in the city.

SM City Bacolod was first opened in March 2007. It originally had 71,759 square meters of GFA divided in two buildings and achored by SM Department Store and SM Supermarket.

‘This expansion clearly manifests SM Prime’s steadfast commitment to assist in the further development and progress of the city through increased tax payments to the local government, as well as by providing residents an improved destination mall and a highly viable venue for business and commerce,’ SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said, in a statement.

‘Our continuing business expansion only affirms our commitment to provide for better retail facilities and services in cities and municipalities that are fast emerging from greater economic stability fueled by remittances from overseas workers and the growth in the business process outsourcing sector,’ he added.

SM Prime opened SM City Olongapo in Zambales earlier this year. For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is scheduled to launch SM City Lanang in Davao City, SM City General Santos in South Cotabato, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, SM City San Fernando in Pampanga and SM Chongqing in China.

By the end of the year, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined GFA of 6.3 million sqm.