Metro Manila included in Top 30 megacities list

Makati City, one of Metro Manila’s central business district. (j_0_n / Flickr)

MANILA — Metro Manila was included in the “Global Top 30,” a list of the most populous, productive and connected cities in the world.

Metro Manila is now in 30th place in the ranking by the global property consulting firm, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL).

The country’s capital was formerly in 37th slate in 2013 according to the London-based global research director Jeremy Kelly in a presentation at the Asia CEO Forum on Thursday.

Kelly noted how Metro Manila has been making its progress in global indices drawn by several institution.

“It’s a city in its ascendancy,” he said.

He added that the capital is in a “sweet spot of growth and momentum, reaping the benefits of economic reforms, improving macro[economic] fundamentals, global specialization and [sovereign] investment grade rating.”

Following this leap to the Top 30, the country’s capital is seen to grow even bigger and rise to the 25th position by 2020 and the 18th place by 2030.

Other top cities included in the list are Tokyo, New York, London and Paris and “mature” cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Hong Kong, Atlanta, Dallas, Singapore, San Francisco, Houston, Toronto, Boston, Sydney and Frankfurt.

Emerging cities were also in the roster with Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Istanbul, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Mexico City, Delhi and Mumbai.