THE construction arm of the Aboitiz Group sees bright prospects for business in Cebu amid the government’s thrust to spread infrastructure development across the country.
In what he described as an “exciting” chapter in the company’s existence, Aboitiz Construction President and Chief Executive Officer Alberto Ignacio Jr. said they would like to be part of this initiative, even indirectly.
“We would like to be able to be part of it, except we don’t want to go directly to government. We want to be part of the public private partnerships (PPP) participated in by the contractors and concessionaires of these projects,” he told reporters in a media roundtable last week.
Under the government’s thrust to ramp up infrastructure spending, the administration is poised to roll out P3.6 trillion in public infrastructure projects from 2018 to 2022.
This was seen to usher in a period called “the golden age of infrastructure” in the Philippines, with the private sector seeking to get a chunk of the work required to achieve this.
Aboitiz Construction is particularly eyeing the Cebu-Cordova Bridge, which has been bid out already and is among the big-ticket infrastructure projects being proposed for Cebu.
“The consortium of FF Cruz and GSENC submitted their bids two to three weeks ago. They’ve asked Aboitiz Construction to submit quotes on different scopes. Whoever wins, we are hoping to get a share of the work,” Ignacio explained.
While it is a government project, the Aboitiz-led firm will be dealing with the private companies that will be involved in engineering, procurement and construction.
While they have been approached to do a portion of the work for other projects in Cebu such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Cebu light rail, they are only presently keen on the bridge.
Nonetheless, they are just putting their ears on the ground, observing and monitoring further developments in Cebu’s construction scene.
Formerly known as industrial contractor Metaphil, Aboitiz Construction is currently focused on private projects, particularly the construction of power plants and manufacturing facilities across the country.