Acciona eyes $12 billion pipeline projects in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Spanish infrastructure and energy conglomerate Acciona is setting its sights on at least $12 billion worth of projects in the Philippines to add to its around $2 billion worth of awarded contracts so far.

Acciona regional director for the Philippines and Southeast Asia Ruben Camba told The STAR in an interview that the company has identified a pipeline of water, construction, and concession projects in the region worth around $25 billion, which the company is interested in.

He said 50 percent of the $25 billion projects are coming from the Philippines.

“We identify projects in the next four years or until 2025. We have identified projects that are going to come to market. Out of this $25 billion, around $12 billion are coming from the Philippines, half of the pipeline,” Camba said.

“These are projects that we see with clear definition and hopefully (there will be) this big push with the new administration for infrastructure because we see a very strong pipeline,” he said.

For its target projects in the pipeline in the Philippines, Camba said these are big transportation, as well as water projects.

“Our experience in the Philippines has been great. We have been here from 2016 and we saw here many opportunities, even the opportunity to help in the economic development of the country,” Camba said.

Acciona has been awarded five projects in the Philippines so far, two of which are water and three are transportation infrastructure.

The first project in the country it won was the Putatan II water treatment plant in Muntinlupa, which was turned over to west zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. in 2020.

Acciona is involved in the development of a 150-million-liters-per-day plant that will treat water from Laguna Lake.

“We see a lot of opportunities in the water space in the Philippines and we want to keep growing and keep winning projects of water,” Camba said.

Acciona is also part of the consortium of Cebu Link joint venture, which was contracted by Metro Pacific Investments Corp. to build the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway that was inaugurated last April 27.

The company has also been awarded contracts for two sections of the railway line that will connect Malolos with Clark International Airport.

According to Camba, the Philippines has a huge potential for railway development, particularly subways.

“We are keen to see investments in subway and to participate in subways. We need this infrastructure and there would be opportunities for Acciona in terms of tunneling,” he said.

“We are doing tunnels now in Vancouver, Poland, Sydney, so we want to bring the same to the Philippines,” the executive said.

Camba said Acciona is also keen on looking at opportunities in the country’s renewable energy market, on top of water and transport infrastructure projects.

Acciona also has two other ongoing projects in the region, one is a desalination plant in Hong Kong and the other is a wastewater treatment plant in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

“It is really clear that our strongest country is the Philippines. Philippines is the regional hub for the Southeast Asia region,” Camba said.